A record of recent High Court of Australia cases: decided, reserved for judgment, awaiting hearing in the Court’s original jurisdiction, granted special leave to appeal, refused special leave to appeal and not proceeding or vacated

1: Cases Handed Down
2: Cases Reserved
3: Original Jurisdiction
4: Special Leave Granted
5: Cases Not Proceeding or Vacated
6: Special Leave Refused

Summary of New Entries

1: Cases Handed Down

Case	Title
Westport Insurance Corporation v Gordion Runoff Limited	Arbitration
Queanbeyan City Council v ACTEW Corporation Ltd	Constitutional Law
Roy Morgan Research Pty Ltd v Commissioner of Taxation	Constitutional Law
Shoalhaven City Council v Firedam Civil Engineering Pty Limited	Contracts
Muldrock v The Queen	Criminal Law
Lithgow City Council v Jackson	Evidence
AB v State of Western Australia; AH v State of Western Australia	Statutes
Tasty Chicks Pty Limited v Chief Commissioner of State Revenue	Taxation and Duties

2: Cases Reserved

Case	Title
Shahi v Minister for Immigration and Citizenship	Citizenship and Migration
PGA v The Queen	Criminal Law
Waller v Hargraves Secured Investments Limited	Mortgages
Australian Education Union v Department of Education and Children's Services	Statutes
Amaca Pty Limited (Under NSW Administered Winding Up) v Booth; Amaba Pty Limited (Under NSW Administered Winding Up) v Booth	Torts

3: Original Jurisdiction

Case	Title
Plaintiff S10/2011 v Minister for Immigration and Citizenship & Anor	Citizenship and Migration
Plaintiff S49/2011 v Minister for Immigration and Citizenship & Anor	Citizenship and Migration
Kaur v Minister for Immigration and Citizenship & Anor	Citizenship and Migration

4: Special Leave Granted

Case	Title
Fortescue Metals Group Ltd v Australian Securities and Investments Commission & Anor; Forrest v Australian Securities and Investments Commission & Anor	Corporations Law
R v Getachew	Criminal Law
R v Khazaal	Criminal Law
PT Garuda Indonesia Ltd v Australian Competition and Consumer Commission	Public International Law

1: Cases Handed Down

The following cases were handed down by the High Court of Australia during the September and October 2011 sittings.

Arbitration

Westport Insurance Corporation v Gordion Runoff Limited

S110/2010; S219/2010: [2011] HCA 37.

Judgment delivered: 5 October 2011.

Coram: French CJ, Gummow, Heydon, Crennan, Kiefel and Bell JJ.

Catchwords:

Arbitration — Judicial review of awards — Section 38(5) of Commercial Arbitration Act 1984 (NSW) ("Arbitration Act") provided that the Supreme Court shall not grant leave to appeal on any question of law unless it considers that, having regard to all the circumstances, the determination of the question of law could substantially affect the rights of a party to the arbitration agreement (par (a)), and there is a "manifest error of law on the face of the award" (par (b)(i)) — Reinsurance treaties between respondent and appellants included arbitration agreement which required that any dispute arising thereunder be referred to arbitration to be held in accordance with and subject to Arbitration Act — Appellants appealed to Supreme Court on questions of law arising out of…

Grounds of appeal

[14] The appellant contends that the primary judge erred in finding that the respondent had discharged the onus of establishing the matters required under the relevant provision.

[15] It was submitted that his Honour failed to give adequate weight to the evidence of the second witness, and that the findings of fact were not reasonably open on the material before the Court.

[16] The respondent, for its part, submits that no error is disclosed, and that the conclusions reached were well within the range of outcomes available to the primary judge.

Consideration

[17] It is convenient to deal first with the question of construction, as the resolution of that issue informs the remaining grounds advanced by the appellant.

[18] For the reasons that follow, we are of the view that the appeal should be allowed in part and the matter remitted for further determination.

Continue reading High Court Bulletin

Details

AGLC: High Court Bulletin [2011] HCAB 8
Case: [2011] HCAB 8
Decision Date

CaseChat Overview and Summary

Westport Insurance Corporation and Gordion Runoff Limited were parties to reinsurance treaties which contained an arbitration agreement. Westport Insurance Corporation was the cedant and Gordion Runoff Limited was the cedant. The reinsurance treaties provided that any dispute arising thereunder be referred to arbitration to be held in accordance with and subject to the Arbitration Act 1984 (NSW). Westport Insurance Corporation appealed to the Supreme Court on questions of law arising out of the award, and the Court of Appeal remitted the matter to the arbitrators. Westport Insurance Corporation then appealed to the High Court. The central issue for the High Court was whether the Court of Appeal erred in concluding that the arbitrators' reasons for the award did not meet the standard of judicial reasons. The Court of Appeal found that the reasons for the award did not meet the standard of judicial reasons as they were not the same standard as judicial reasons. The High Court disagreed and held that the reasons for the award must be sufficient for the purpose of the particular arbitration agreement. The Court found that the reasons for the award were sufficient and that the Court of Appeal erred in its reasoning. The appeal was dismissed.

Orders