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Aon Risk Services Australia Ltd v Australian National University (2009) 239 CLR 175 (Aon v ANU) is a decision by the High Court of Australia (High Court) that redefined the principles for requests made to a court during a case to resolve procedural or temporary issues for changing the formal written documents outliuning the claims or defence of each party in a case, known as pleadings.

The High Court confirmed that the right for a party in a court case would not be granted sheerly because an amendment raises an arguable issue. Appications for the right to amend pleadings at any stage of litigation between parties is subject to the principles of effectively managing legal cases to justly and efficiently resolve the issues between the parties. Aon v ANU reversed the previous decision of Queensland v JL Holdings which had held the most important consideration when assessing a request to amend court pleadings was the consideration of justice, and that any inconvenience to the other party was curable by awarding costs against the amender.

Background

Legal context

The High Court had in an earlier decision of Queensland v JL Holdings Pty Ltd decided that when one party in a legal dispute wanted to change their formal written arguments (called pleadings), the most important thing was to ensure fairness and justice between the parties involved. The High Court ruled such changes should mostly be permitted provided they helped the case to reach the correct outcome, provided the other side was compensated for inconvenience through the payment of their costs.

This approach mostly disregarded any concerns about how such changes could delay a case or affect the court system more generally. It meant parties could usually delay in making changes, resulting in significant delays and higher costs. Courts did not have the power to reject most requests, despite the potential for disruption or waste of court time.

The decision effectively allowed participants in a legal proceeding to amend their pleadings as desired, encouraging parties to delay raising claims or issues with the intent of amending their pleadings without consequence. This caused delays courts struggled to manage, leading to ineffiency, increased court costs, a strain on court resources, and eventually, increased criticism. Justice Finkelstein of the Federal Court of Australia went on to argue JL Holdings had been applied in too many cases where paying costs was not fair and just in the circumstances. He felt the case had unfairly hamstrung courts and felt the decision should be reconsidered, with parties having been treated with excessive lenience. Critics of JL Holdings supported a return to the method adopted prior to the decision, wherea judge was entitled to consider the effect of amending pleadings on court resources and other parties. This approach did not always view the paying of costs as a solution to the issues caused by a last minute amendment.

Case facts

In January 2003, bushfire destroyed property and equipment at Australian National University's (ANU) Mt Stromlo Campus in Canberra. ANU was insured by three companies, Chubb, CGU, and ACE. The insurance policies had been placed by a broker named Aon Risk Services (AON). ANU lodged a claim for property damage. This claim was disputed by its three insurers on various grounds, though they each agreed ANU had failed to take insurance out on a cohort of buildings referred to as the "PNI list". ANU brought a suit against the insurers, later adding Aon to the suit alleging it had negligently failed to advise the insurers of the property on the PNI list. ANU also disputed the value of its assets, whereas the insurers argued the values were under-declared.

Aon v ANU established that a reason must be provided to explain any late amendment of pleadings. The High Court confirmed that a proposed amendment will not be permitted merely because it raises an arguable issue - and that amendments are subject to the principles of legal case management. The decision reversed Queensland v JL Holdings, alongside its finding that the principal consideration in deciding whether to grant an amendment is justice, with costs being the cure-all solution to any inconvenience suffered by another party.

References

1. ^ Lyons, Alicia (2010). "Recasting the landscape of interlocutory applications: Aon Risk Services Australia Ltd v Australian National University" (PDF). Sydney Law Review. 10: 550–551 – via Austlii.
2. Lyons, Alicia (2010). "Recasting the landscape of interlocutory applications: Aon Risk Services Australia Ltd v Australian National University" (PDF). Sydney Law Review. 10: 551 – via Austlii.
3. Lyons, Alicia (2010). "Recasting the landscape of interlocutory applications: Aon Risk Services Australia Ltd v Australian National University" (PDF). Sydney Law Review. 10: 551 – via Austlii.
4. Lyons, Alicia (2010). "Recasting the landscape of interlocutory applications: Aon Risk Services Australia Ltd v Australian National University" (PDF). Sydney Law Review. 10: 552 – via Austlii.
5. ^ Grime, Ken (2011). "Aon Risk Services Australia v Australian National University" (PDF). The Abitrator and Mediator. 29: 76 – via Austlii.
6. Lu, Andrew (2009). "Restricting amendments in Australian Courts: Cost-effective justice through the lens of case management: Aon v ANU" (PDF). Australian Insurance Law Bulletin.