Boele v Norsemeter Holding AS

The case of *Boele v Norsemeter Holding AS* involved an action brought in Australia to enforce a foreign judgment obtained by Norsemeter Holding AS against Mr Boele. Mr Boele, an Australian resident, had been a shareholder in a Swedish company, ASFT, and along with other shareholders, had sold his shares to Norsemeter. A dispute arose concerning this sale, leading Norsemeter to commence proceedings in the Oslo City Court in Norway. Mr Boele engaged Swedish and Norwegian lawyers to represent him and the other shareholders. The Oslo City Court proceedings concluded, and Mr Boele was informed that the case was a success. Subsequently, he terminated his engagement of his lawyers, believing the matter to be finalised. However, Norsemeter appealed the Oslo City Court's decision, and the appeal reversed the initial outcome, resulting in a judgment against Mr Boele. Norsemeter then sought to enforce this reversed judgment in Australia via summary judgment.

The central legal issues before the court were whether Mr Boele had submitted to the jurisdiction of the Norwegian appellate court and whether he had received natural justice in relation to the appellate proceedings. Specifically, the court had to consider if Mr Boele had established a "mode of notification" regarding the appeal proceedings such that notice to his former Norwegian lawyers would satisfy the requirements of natural justice, or if the foreign procedure itself established such a method of notification. The court was required to determine if Mr Boele had an arguable case on either of these questions, which would preclude the granting of summary judgment.

The court reasoned that Mr Boele had an arguable case that he had not received natural justice. His termination of his lawyers' engagement, based on the belief that the initial proceedings were finalised and his instruction that any future action required his explicit approval after being fully informed of the facts, suggested he was not aware of the appeal. The court found that the effectiveness of the notice given to his former lawyers in the context of the appeal was a matter that required further investigation at a trial, rather than being summarily determined.

Consequently, the court allowed the appeal against the summary judgment order. The order for summary judgment made by Einstein J was set aside, and Norsemeter's notice of motion was dismissed. Mr Boele was granted leave to appeal, and the court directed that notice of appeal be filed within seven days.