Australia, Sept. 9 -- New South Wales Land and Environment Court issued text of the following judgement on Aug. 8:

1. THE COURT: On 9 August 2024, the Court, constituted by the Chief Justice, Meagher JA and Harrison CJ at CL, delivered its reasons in respect of two sets of proceedings which were heard together: The Law Society of New South Wales v Attorney General of New South Wales; ABC Insurance Pty Ltd v The Law Society of New South Wales [2024] NSWCA 90 (the Judgment).

2. These reasons assume a knowledge of the matters in issue in and resolved by the Judgment.

3. The first proceeding (2024/107445) was commenced by the Law Society of New South Wales (the Law Society) against the Attorney General of New South Wales (the Law Society Proceeding). The second proceeding (2024/107482) was commenced by ABC Insurance Pty Ltd (the Applicant) against the Law Society (the ABC Insurance Proceeding).

4. The commercial background to the two sets of proceedings was set out in the Law Society's written submissions (omitting references) for the principal hearing, and is relevant to issues considered in the present judgment:

"For each practising year, LawCover seeks approval from the Defendant for the type and level of professional indemnity insurance (PII) and the terms and conditions applicable to the PII policy pursuant to s 95 of the Application Act, and the Defendant provides its consent. There is no separate instrument approving LawCover as an 'insurer or other provider'.

On 17 January 2024, the Plaintiff received a letter from the solicitors for ABC Insurance Pty Ltd which stated, amongst other things, that ABC Insurance intended to distribute a PII policy for solicitors practising in NSW for the forthcoming renewal cycle, effective from 1 July 2024, and that the policy to be distributed was an "approved insurance policy" within the meaning of s 210(1)(a)(ii)(A) of the LPUL (Proposed PII Policy).

On 2 February 2024, the solicitors for ABC Insurance sent the solicitors for the Plaintiff an advice issued to ABC Insurance (ABC Advice). That advice referred to an application made by ABC Insurance on 25 November 2022 to the Defendant seeking approval of the Proposed PII Policy.

On 12 February 2024, the solicitors for ABC Insurance informed the Plaintiff that, in November 2022, the then Attorney General (the Honourable Mark Speakman SC MP) had been informed of ABC Insurance's intention to distribute the Proposed PII Policy, and subsequently in mid-2023, representatives of the current Attorney General (the Honourable Michael Daley MP) were informed of the basis of ABC Insurance's position.

On 16 February 2024, the Plaintiff sent a letter to the Defendant which requested that his office confirm whether he had approved ABC Insurance's Proposed PII Policy.

On 20 February 2024, the Plaintiff received a letter from the Defendant confirming that he had received a request to approve the Proposed PII Policy but that a decision had not been made."

*Rest of the document can be viewed at: (https://www.caselaw.nsw.gov.au/decision/19883ca8f737f34bab8283ae)

Disclaimer: Curated by HT Syndication.