• NSW Supreme Court Refuses Defendant’s Application to Join Solicitors who Advised on Failed Purchase of Sydney Apartment - The defendant was the purchaser on the contract for sale of an apartment in Forestville, which the plaintiff, the vendor, terminated. Proceedings were commenced claiming the deposit and seeking other costs.
• Reasonable Care or Best Practice: Austen v Tran [2023] ACTCA 44 - In Austen v Tran [2023] ACTCA 44, the ACT Court of Appeal dismissed an appeal by a plaintiff in a medical negligence proceeding. The Court of Appeal’s decision provides welcome confirmation that reasonable care remains the touchstone of discharge of a medical practitioner’s duty of care, even where “best practice” is not achieved. The decision otherwise provides valuable commentary on the issue of follow-up action by medical practitioners.
• The Catch of Continuity Clauses - A continuity clause has become a customary inclusion in most professional indemnity and D&O policies. However, such clauses are generating some difficult legal and practical issues to deal with in the context of managing and resolving contested claims for indemnity. In this article, we explore the rationale for continuity clauses and outline three specific, but not exhaustive, issues that have emerged.