Legal Articles
Cooling Off Period In South Australia
September 1st, 2014 by | Business Sale & Purchase, Commercial Transactions, Conveyancing, Property & Leases
A ‘cooling off period’ is a short period of time in which the purchaser can back out of a contract. Cooling off rights and periods can be found in a number of contracts – from the purchase of a house or car, to domestic building contracts. However, cooling off periods differ from state to state,… Read more »
Unfair Employment Contracts
August 22nd, 2014 by | Employment
From time to time, certain States have had laws as to a review of unfair contracts, particularly in an employment setting. These were rarely availed, in part because the difficulty of determining a fairness test, but the national reach of the Fair Work Act 2009 (“the Act”) tackles the issue in another way. We do not take… Read more »
Defending a Negligence Claim in Court
August 1st, 2014 by | Court Disputes
Whether you are in some relationship that attracts a legal duty of care, the question of negligence may arise when something goes wrong. Because of legislative changes on negligence claims, it is now more likely that a Plaintiff making a claim for damages will cast the net widely in an attempt to rope in anyone… Read more »
Defending a Breach of Contract Claim in Court
August 1st, 2014 by | Court Disputes
Some hundreds of years ago, the common law created the simple and radical concept of an action for breach of contract. If a legally binding contract has been created, and a party either fails to discharge his or her obligations under the contract or repudiates the contract, the other party may take action in respect… Read more »
Joint Tenancy and Tenants-in-Common Confusion
July 31st, 2014 by | Conveyancing, Property & Leases, Wills & Estate Planning
Like all legal fictions, the most common forms of land ownership seem deceptively simple but in fact they can be quite complicated. Anna Pantelios provides a useful outline of the differences between joint tenancy and tenants-in-common from a conveyancing perspective in her article “Joint Tenants or Tenants-in-Common?” but confusion continues. The legal consequences of getting… Read more »
Advance Care Directives
July 9th, 2014 by | Wills & Estate Planning
The Advance Care Directives Act, 2013 (SA) came into operation on 1 July 2014. The Act allows adults to make legally binding arrangements for their future health care, end of life wishes, living arrangements and other lifestyle matters by appointing one or more Substitute Decision Makers in an Advance Care Directive (“ACD”) Form. Enduring Powers… Read more »
Defamation Damages
May 13th, 2014 by | Defamation
Compensation for Defamation If a person has been the victim of slander or libel, a claim for defamation damages can be brought. Whilst the Courts will not order a defendant to apologise, defamation lawyers will advise that is it good policy to apologise as soon as possible. The Courts will also take a defamation apology… Read more »
Loan Agreements “Payable on Demand”
March 19th, 2014 by | Court Disputes, Debt Collection, Finance & Securities
To the intelligent layman, the phrase in a loan agreement stating that the monies loaned are “payable on demand” suggests that the right to sue arises only after a demand is actually made. Naturally, a lawyer will tell you it is more complicated than that. For a variety of reasons, some purely historical, “payable on… Read more »
Purchasing a Company Title, Cross Lease or Moiety Title
March 19th, 2014 by | Conveyancing, Property & Leases
Purchasing a Company Title, Cross Lease or Moiety Title in South Australia is not as straight forward as buying a property that has its own title under the Torrens title system. It is not for everyone. The first hurdle to overcome is to make sure you have a clear understanding of what you are about… Read more »
Mutual Trust and Confidence in the Employment Contract
March 12th, 2014 by | Court Disputes, Employment
In a decision of the Federal Court of Australia on 6 August 2013 (Commonwealth Bank of Australia v Barker [2013] FCAFC 83) the majority stated that an implied contractual term of mutual trust and confidence was part of the law of contract in Australia. A contract is a legal bargain between parties that has various… Read more »
Compensation for Employment Unfair Dismissal
March 12th, 2014 by | Court Disputes, Employment
If an employee is found to have been unfairly dismissed, the Fair Work Act 2009 empowers the Fair Work Commission to award compensation, if reinstatement is inappropriate (as it almost always is) and if compensation is appropriate in the circumstances. The maximum amount is set as the highest amount earned or which the dismissed employee… Read more »
Concurrent Lease Used To Sell Right to Property Income
March 10th, 2014 by | Commercial Transactions, Property & Leases
There are a number of reasons why one may want to sell or transfer the right to receive rental income from a leased property. They include: (1) The desire to convert the future rental payments into an upfront capital amount by selling the right to receive rental income; (2) estate planning purposes and the desire… Read more »
Contract by (Unilateral) Mistake
February 11th, 2014 by | Court Disputes
Courts can set aside contracts on a number of grounds: the terms may be illegal, a party may have entered into the deal through fraud or misrepresentation, and so on. Sometimes the Court will intervene where there has been a mutual, fundamental mistake or misunderstanding. In some circumstances the Court can also correct Contracts. But… Read more »
No Win No Fee Lawyers – Traps for Legal Clients
January 30th, 2014 by | No Win No Fee Lawyers
WHAT ‘NO WIN NO FEE LAWYERS’ ACTUALLY MEAN ‘No Win No Fee’ Tips and Traps You’ve read it in the paper, seen it on TV, heard it on the radio: Lawyers in Adelaide claiming that they will take on your case, ‘No win, no fee.’ It sounds very tempting from a financial perspective. The offer suggests you… Read more »
Winding up a Partnership: Considerations for the Disenchanted
December 16th, 2013 by | Business Sale & Purchase, Commercial Transactions, Court Disputes
People carrying on business in common for profit are in Partnership. It is an old and historically successful business model, although more businesses today incorporate as a limited liability corporation. The unwritten essence of a partnership is trust between partners and when trust no longer remains, the end of a partnership becomes a real possibility. A… Read more »
