Shire of Corangamite v Transport Accident Commission

[1999] VSCA 220

Victorian Court of Appeal

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For Australian Law.

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Interrogate

Catchwords

1. Negligence
2. › Highway authority
3. › Misfeasance
4. › Placing loose material on road surface
5. › Whether evidence sufficient to support finding of negligence
1. Appeal
2. › Standard of appellate review
3. › Findings of fact by trial judge
4. › Credibility of witnesses
5. › Whether finding glaringly improbable or inconsistent with incontrovertible facts
1. Statutes
2. › Interpretation
3. › Retrospective operation of legislation
4. › Presumption against retrospectivity
5. › Whether amending Act operated retrospectively
6. › Whether right of indemnity arose from statute rather than from tortious act
7. › Transport Accident (General Amendment) Act 1994 (Vic), s 11
1. Statutes
2. › Interpretation
3. › Structure of Act
4. › Headings to parts
5. › Whether transitional provision in one Part applies to amendments in another Part
6. › Interpretation of Legislation Act 1984 (Vic), s 36(1)

Quick Take

The 1994 amendments to s.104 of the Transport Accident Act 1986 extending the Commission's right of indemnity to all payments apply to transport accidents occurring before 1 January 1995, because s.11(2) of the amending Act is confined to Part 2 amendments. A statutory right of indemnity is distinct from the underlying tortious liability, and there is no 'existing right' to be free from future legislative obligations that would engage the presumption against retrospectivity.