Cam & Bear Pty Ltd v McGoldrick

[2018] NSWCA 110

NSW Court of Appeal

View on CaseLaw

Built by Barristers,
For Australian Law.

See how it works

Interrogate

Catchwords

1. Negligence
2. › Professional negligence
3. › Auditor's duty of care
4. › Auditor of self-managed superannuation fund
5. › Breach of duty in failing to identify and report doubts as to recoverability of assets
6. › Whether breach caused loss
7. › Counterfactual inquiry not confined to misdescription of assets
1. Negligence
2. › Causation
3. › Scope of counterfactual inquiry
4. › Whether primary judge erred in confining causation analysis to effect of misdescription rather than broader breach of duty
5. › Civil Liability Act 2002 (NSW), s 5D(3)
1. Negligence
2. › Contributory negligence
3. › Apportionment
4. › Plaintiff lacking financial sophistication
5. › Defendant engaged to protect against the very type of loss that occurred
6. › Relative importance of parties' acts in causing damage
7. › Civil Liability Act 2002 (NSW), s 5R
8. › Law Reform (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1965 (NSW), s 9
1. Negligence
2. › Proportionate liability
3. › Concurrent wrongdoers
4. › Whether company which compiled financial statements was concurrent wrongdoer
5. › No evidence as to basis of engagement
6. › Whether person proved to be liable to plaintiff
7. › Civil Liability Act 2002 (NSW), ss 34, 35

Quick Take

Where the same acts of a plaintiff company's directors ground both a finding of contributory negligence and an allegation that the directors are concurrent wrongdoers for proportionate liability purposes, the proportionate liability reduction is not 'just' under s 35(1)(a) of the Civil Liability Act 2002 (NSW) because it would constitute a double deduction for the same conduct.