Allianz Australia Insurance Ltd v Mercer

[2014] TASFC 3

Tasmania Full Court

Built by Barristers,
For Australian Law.

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Interrogate

Catchwords

1. Insurance
2. › Claims generally
3. › Claims by third party where insured absent or dead
4. › Company deregistered
5. › Statutory cause of action against insurer
6. › Whether insurer had a liability to claimant immediately before deregistration
7. › Applicable limitation period
8. › Corporations Act 2001 (Cth), s 601AG
1. Limitation of Actions
2. › Limitation of particular actions
3. › Accrual of cause of action and when time begins to run
4. › Deregistered company
5. › Statutory cause of action against insurer under s 601AG
6. › Whether limitation period is that relating to underlying cause of action against company or six-year period for sums recoverable by virtue of enactment
7. › Limitation Act 1974 (Tas), ss 4(1)(d), 5A(3)
1. Corporations
2. › Deregistration
3. › Claims against insurers of deregistered company
4. › Purposive construction of s 601AG
5. › Assimilation of statutory cause of action to underlying cause of action
6. › Whether insurer stands in shoes of deregistered company for limitation purposes
7. › Corporations Act 2001 (Cth), s 601AG

Quick Take

The limitation period applicable to an action under s601AG of the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) against the insurer of a deregistered company is the limitation period that relates to the underlying cause of action against the company, not the six-year period for sums recoverable by virtue of an enactment. This applies even where the underlying limitation period had not expired at the date of deregistration but had expired by the time the s601AG action was commenced. Claimants who are out of time on the underlying cause of action must seek reinstatement of the company under s601AH rather than relying on s601AG with a fresh six-year limitation period.