Cassis v Kalfus

Cassis v Kalfus involved a dispute between the plaintiff, a solicitor, and the defendant, a client, over alleged negligence and breach of fiduciary duty. The matter was heard in the Supreme Court of Victoria. The plaintiff, acting on behalf of the defendant, managed the sale of a property. The plaintiff's actions, or lack thereof, during the sale process were brought into question, with the plaintiff being accused of failing to act in the best interests of the defendant and thus breaching fiduciary obligations. Additionally, the defendant alleged that the plaintiff's actions constituted professional negligence.

The central legal issues before the court were whether the plaintiff breached their fiduciary duties to the defendant and, if so, whether the defendant's claim was barred by s 23 of the Limitation Act 1987. The court had to determine if the statute's provisions applied to the defendant's claims and whether any time limits had expired. The defendant argued that the statutory provisions did not apply to their claims, while the plaintiff contended that the claims were time-barred.

The court found that the plaintiff had indeed breached their fiduciary duties by not acting in the defendant's best interests during the property sale. However, the court also held that s 23 of the Limitation Act 1987 applied to the defendant's claims. Consequently, the defendant's claims were time-barred, and the court dismissed the defendant's case. The reasoning was that the defendant's claims were founded in tort, which is specifically excluded from the statutory provisions under s 23. Therefore, the court ruled in favour of the plaintiff.