Commonwealth Bank of Australia v Iinvest Pty Ltd (In Liq) (No 2)

In the Federal Court of Australia, the Commonwealth Bank of Australia applied to set aside a judgment entered against it by Justice Gilmour. The judgment was sought to be set aside on the basis that it was procured in a manner that denied the bank natural justice. The bank had entered into a trust deed with Iinvest Pty Ltd (In Liq) and was seeking to rectify the deed on the basis that it contained a drafting error. Justice Gilmour entered judgment in favour of Iinvest on the basis that the bank had failed to bring the error to Iinvest’s attention within a reasonable time of discovery. The bank argued that the judgment was vitiated by natural justice because the issue of whether it had acted within a reasonable time was not raised by the parties and was therefore not decided by the Court. The Court found that the bank’s argument had some force, but that the bank had not been deprived of a fair hearing and that the application to set aside the judgment should be dismissed. The Court held that it had a discretion to decide issues not raised by the parties and that the issue of whether the bank had acted within a reasonable time could be decided without prejudice to the respondent. The Court found that the bank had not acted within a reasonable time and dismissed the application to set aside the judgment. The Court did not make any orders as to costs.