Australian Securities and Investments Commission v. Shafron
Australian Securities and Investments Commission v. Terry
Australian Securities and Investments Commission v. Hellicar
Australian Securities and Investments Commission v. Brown
Australian Securities and Investments Commission v. Gillfillan
Australian Securities and Investments Commission v. Koffel
Australian Securities and Investments Commission v. O’Brien
Australian Securities and Investments Commission v. Willcox
Case Nos.
S174/2011 to S181/2011
Related matter:
Case Information
Lower Court Judgment
17/12/2010 Supreme Court of New South Wales (Court of Appeal)
Catchwords
Corporations — Management and administration — Evidence — Misleading announcement sent to Australian Stock Exchange ("ASX") — At trial, Australian Securities and Investments Commission ("ASIC") failed to call solicitor ("Mr Robb") advising James Hardie Industries Ltd ("JHIL") who attended meeting of Board of Directors — Trial judge made adverse findings and declarations of contravention against first to eighth respondents — Whether ASIC obliged to call particular witnesses pursuant to obligation of fairness — Whether ASIC failed to discharge burden of proving that JHIL Board passed Draft ASX Announcement resolution — Whether ASIC obliged to call Mr Robb to give evidence of firm's receipt of Draft ASX Announcement — Whether ASIC's failure to comply with obligations, if extant, had negative evidentiary impact on ASIC's case — Whether certain oral evidence of respondents Brown and Koffel ought to have been accepted as correlating with terms of Draft ASX Announcement — Whether ASIC failed to prove that JHIL Board passed resolution approving tabled ASX Announcement — Whether of evidentiary significance that company associated with respondent O'Brien produced to ASIC identical version of Draft ASX Announcement — Whether evidence of JHIL company secretary that practice of retaining versions of announcements approved for market release did not relate to period of release of misleading announcement — Whether reliability and weight to be attributed to Board minutes open to question — Whether declarations of contravention made in respect of first to eighth respondents should be set aside — Whether, in respect of Shafron cross-appeal: Shafron was an officer of JHIL who participated in decisions affecting the business of JHIL; Shafron's responsibilities as company secretary and general counsel fell within scope of duty of care and diligence imposed on him as an "officer" by s 180(1) of Corporations Law and Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) ("Acts"); Shafron's conduct was in his capacity as JHIL company secretary; Shafron breached s 180(1) of the Acts.
Documents
13/05/2011 Hearing (SLA, Sydney)
25/05/2011 Notice of appeal
17/06/2011 Written submissions (Appellant)
17/06/2011 Annexure to submissions - annotated minutes of JHIL Board Meeting of 15 February 2001
17/06/2011 Annexure to submissions - Appellant's correlation evidence
17/06/2011 Annexure to submissions - Appellant's dramatis personae
17/06/2011 Chronology (Appellant)
20/07/2011 Written submissions (Respondent - Shafron)
20/07/2011 Written submissions (Respondent - Terry)
20/07/2011 Written submissions (Respondents - Hellicar, Brown, Gillfillan & Koffel)
20/07/2011 Annexure to submissions - respondents' aides memoir
20/07/2011 Written submissions (Respondent - O'Brien)
20/07/2011 Written submissions (Respondent - Willcox)
09/08/2011 Amended Chronology (Appellant)
12/08/2011 Reply (Shafron)
12/08/2011 Reply (Terry)
12/08/2011 Reply (Hellicar, Brown, Gillfillan & Koffel)
12/08/2011 Reply (O'Brien)
12/08/2011 Reply (Willcox)
24/10/2011 Hearing (Single Justice, Canberra)
25/10/2011 Hearing (Full Court, Canberra)
26/10/2011 Hearing (Full Court, Canberra)
27/10/2011 Hearing (Full Court, Canberra)
03/05/2012 Judgment (Judgment summary)