News & Insights

Rigby Cooke Lawyers has continued its expansion program recruiting new partner Demian Walton to its Litigation and Dispute Resolution Group.

Rigby Cooke Lawyers’ Executive Chairman, Bill Karvela says,

I own property in Australia, what do I need to do to protect my interests?

If you have recently purchased property in Australia, then it is imperative that you protect your new asset. The first thing most people do is take out insurance to protect against fire, theft and damage but what most people forget to do is protect their assets against government intervention during times of incapacity or on death.

Scleroderma Victoria is a small volunteer-run group which provides support, information and advocacy for those living with scleroderma and their families. The organisation received portable oxygen concentrators (medical equipment) as part of a bequest, and started to loan these to terminally ill members who have lung complications due to scleroderma.

In structuring 30 June transactions it is often desirable to sign a contract before 30 June, but defer payment of capital gains tax (CGT) or the CGT event until a subsequent income year; particularly where settlement is deferred to a subsequent income year so there are no sale proceeds for the vendor to pay the tax or it is desired to set-off losses in the subsequent income year.

Key points

• Parties to a franchise agreement should always act honestly in exercising powers and performing obligations under the agreement and the Franchising Code of Conduct

The Building and Construction Industry Security of Payment Act 2002 (Vic) (the Act) has revolutionised dispute resolution processes in the civil, construction and engineering industries.

From time to time, where a party becomes aware that there is a risk that assets of another party to a dispute may be disposed of, it is necessary to apply to the Court for a freezing order.

Rigby Cooke recently acted for a client that had entered into a sub-lease with a global transport and logistics provider. The site was to be used as a depot for our client’s business, which relies heavily on the use of B-Doubles.

Rigby Cooke recently acted for a client in a NSW Supreme Court case which clearly defined the Chain of Responsibility laws that relate to consignors and loaders of goods.

From time to time clients of ours find themselves in the position where they need to seek an intervention order (known in some states as an Apprehended Violence Order or ‘AVO’), usually in cases where they have been threatened by another party.

The avid readers of InDispute may recall that each year our commercial Litigation and Dispute Resolution team act in numerous shareholder dispute matters.  These past 12 months have been no exception.

If you were served with a subpoena to produce documents to Court, would you know what to do and how to respond to it?

On 3 February 2016 the Full Federal Court handed down its decision in Assarapin v. Australian Community Pharmacy Authority. ¹

Scott’s Transport has been issued with what appear to be the most severe penalties for breaches of Chain of Responsibility laws in Australia to date.

A recent decision of the Supreme Court of NSW¹ has provided a timely reminder of the importance of ensuring the existence and currency of employment contracts.

Key Points

• The purpose of the Pharmacy Location Rules is to reduce the cost to the Commonwealth of administering the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme, not to protect individual pharmacies’ geographic markets.

• A recent court decision highlights the need for companies to review deeds of indemnity given to the company’s directors
• The decision illustrates the importance for officers and employees of having effective and extensive directors and officers insurance from the outset

The European Court of Justice has ruled that a 15-year-old agreement allowing companies to transfer personal information from servers within the European Union to servers in the United States is invalid.

Disclosure statistics released

• The ATO has announced that, at 30 June 2014, there had been 166 disclosures, 250 expressions of interest (where taxpayers have identified themselves and said they will be making a disclosure) and more than 600 general enquiries in relation to Project DO IT.

One of Australia’s oldest law firms, Rigby Cooke Lawyers is on the move.

The full service commercial law firm, which can trace its heritage back to 1848 and has included partners such as former Australian Prime Minister, Mr. Harold Holt, is moving to state of the art offices over 2 floors in Melbourne Central Tower at 360 Elizabeth Street, Melbourne.

Service by Email – Effective?

Construction contracts can permit the service of notices by email, however, determining the time at which the email is deemed to have been served or received is problematic and may have implications in the event that a matter proceeds to adjudication.