Kinneally Miley Law

20 FEBRUARY 2013

With the ease and speed of communication by email, it is becoming increasingly common for businesses to give legal notices under agreements they have entered with others by email. For example, giving notice to exercise an option under a lease or notice to extend the deadline of a contract date. We consider this is a risky practice which may result in the email you have given being invalid for the purposes of the agreement.

There is still a shortage of legislation and case law rules established which govern the giving of notices by email. This lack of governance and established legal principles means there is uncertainty in relation to whether a notice given by email is valid or when that email will be considered delivered to the recipient by law. Continue Reading

20 FEBRUARY 2013

The obligation to use “reasonable endeavours” to achieve a contractual objective is often used in contracts where the objective is not within the absolute control of the party or the steps and costs required to achieve the objective are not clear at the time of entering the contract. While this obligation may be viewed as a so-called “soft obligation”, it is important that businesses understand the steps required to be taken to comply with this type of obligation as not achieving the contractual objective may in certain circumstances result in breaching the contract and exposure to a claim for damages. Continue Reading

PLANNING AND ENVIRONMENT – THE START OF THE “RED TAPE” UNWIND

The Planning and Environment Court (P&E Court) now has the general discretion to award costs. This fundamental shift from the previous general default position that each party to an appeal bear their own costs was passed on 13 November 2012 and brings the P&E Court more in line with the costs regime in the Supreme and District Courts.

A non-exhaustive list of matters the P&E Court may have regard to when exercising its discretion in awarding costs has been incorporated into the Sustainable Planning Act (SPA), including “the relative success of the parties to the proceeding”, “the commercial interests of the parties to the proceeding” and whether the proceedings were commenced “without reasonable prospects of success”.

It is expected that the amendment will: Continue Reading

PROTECTING YOUR BUSINESS ONLINE

As the trend towards online trading continues to grow at a rapid rate, it is becoming increasingly necessary for many businesses to offer their products and services online to remain competitive. Equally important is having in place an appropriate system to ensure the terms which regulate your trading activities protects your business.

Generally you should set up your website so that customers can accept your terms and conditions of sale or use in a way that is legally binding on the customers. The two most commons ways that a customer may accept online terms is by “click-wrap” or “browse-wrap” agreements. Continue Reading

20 NOVEMBER 2012

As the trend towards online trading continues to grow at a rapid rate, it is becoming increasingly necessary for many businesses to offer their products and services online to remain competitive. Equally important is having in place an appropriate system to ensure the terms which regulate your trading activities protects your business.

Generally you should set up your website so that customers can accept your terms and conditions of sale or use in a way that is legally binding on the customers. The two most commons ways that a customer may accept online terms is by “click-wrap” or “browse-wrap” agreements. Continue Reading

20 NOVEMBER 2012

The Planning and Environment Court (P&E Court) now has the general discretion to award costs. This fundamental shift from the previous general default position that each party to an appeal bear their own costs was passed on 13 November 2012 and brings the P&E Court more in line with the costs regime in the Supreme and District Courts.

A non-exhaustive list of matters the P&E Court may have regard to when exercising its discretion in awarding costs has been incorporated into the Sustainable Planning Act (SPA), including “the relative success of the parties to the proceeding”, “the commercial interests of the parties to the proceeding” and whether the proceedings were commenced “without reasonable prospects of success”.

It is expected that the amendment will: Continue Reading