Applicability of statutory substantive law regimes to arbitration (Tesseract v Pascale)

Table of contents

• What are the practical implications?
• What was the background?
• What did the court decide?
• Case details

Article summary

Arbitration analysis: The High Court of Australia has held that a statutory proportionate liability regime applies to arbitrations that are subject to the substantive law of the state, unless excluded by party agreement. The regime (common to all Australian jurisdictions) limits a respondent’s liability for tortious, contractual, and statutory damages to that respondent’s contribution to the loss, and leaves the claimant to sue other contributors. The claimant in this case argued unsuccessfully that the regime could not be applied to arbitration because it could not join the other contributors to the arbitration. Written by Dr Cameron Ford OAM, barrister at William Forster Chambers.