More pressure on financiers – the demise of the ‘Insolvency’ event of default From July 2018, amendments to the Corporations Act commence which significantly limit the ability of financiers to rely on the occurrence of a traditional ‘insolvency event’ to terminate a credit contract. The new laws are informally known as the ipso facto clause… Read More
Tribunal says net rental clause unfair In equipment lease agreements, the unconditional payment (net rental) obligation is the cornerstone of the contract from the financier’s point of view. Come ‘hell or high water’, the hirer is obligated to pay its instalments on time and in full. It must never miss a beat. In Abraham v… Read More
Early payouts under goods leases remain unaffected by recent case on penalties In the recent case of Andrews v Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd (2012) 290 ALR 59 (“Andrews”), the High Court decided that provisions in a contract deemed penal in nature would be unenforceable not just upon breach, but irrespective of whether… Read More
In Australia every company is issued with an Australian Company Number or “ACN”. The purpose of an ACN is to ensure that a company is properly identified when conducting important aspects of its business. The ACN was introduced in the 1990s in response to the growing realisation that as more and more companies were being… Read More
Recently an SME client asked whether the law could help him stop his customers poaching his staff, and his (former) staff poaching his customers. As you can appreciate, these are difficult questions to answer. In Australia, the general position is that restricting a person’s freedom to work is contrary to public policy. Courts don’t like… Read More