Austcorp Project No 20 Pty Ltd v LM Investment Management Ltd, in the matter of Bellpac Pty Ltd (receivers and managers appointed) (in liq)

The case before the court involves Austcorp Project No 20 Pty Ltd as plaintiffs, LM Investment Management Ltd, in the matter of Bellpac Pty Ltd (receivers and managers appointed) (in liq) as defendants, and LM Investment Management Ltd's professional indemnity insurers as potential respondents. The plaintiffs seek to amend their pleadings to add claims against the insurers and to join the insurers as defendants. The insurers oppose the application, arguing that the claims made policy does not cover the claims made by the plaintiffs. The court had to decide whether the plaintiffs could join the insurers as defendants and amend their pleadings to include claims against them. The court also had to determine whether the insurers could be joined as defendants under the Federal Court Rules 2011. The court found that the plaintiffs could join the insurers as defendants and amend their pleadings to include claims against them. However, the court also found that the insurers could not be joined as defendants under the Federal Court Rules 2011 because the plaintiffs were not the insured parties under the insurance policies. Instead, the court found that the insurers could only be joined as defendants if the plaintiffs could establish that the insurers had a duty of indemnity towards them. The court therefore ordered that the plaintiffs could join the insurers as defendants and amend their pleadings to include claims against them, but only if the insurers could be joined as defendants under the Federal Court Rules 2011. The court also ordered that the parties were to liaise with a view to formulating a separate question to determine all the insurance issues raised by the insurers in answer to the application. The orders of the court were that leave was granted to the plaintiffs to amend the Originating Process and Statement of Claim in accordance with the amended version of those documents provided in Court on 30 October 2013. Leave was also granted to the plaintiffs to join the professional indemnity insurers of LM Investment Management Ltd (in liq) as defendants, namely the fifth, sixth and seventh respondents in the Further Amended Interlocutory Application filed 30 October 2013. The parties were to liaise with a view to formulating a separate question to determine all the insurance issues raised by the fifth, sixth and seventh respondents in answer to this application.