LINFOX TRANSPORT (AUST) PTY LTD v ARTHUR YATES & CO LTD [2003] NSWSC 876

LINFOX TRANSPORT (AUST) PTY LTD v ARTHUR YATES & CO LTD [2003] NSWSC 876

The monthly sales reports were financial records in the ordinary sense because they recorded financial information, including sales figures and contemporaneous explanations by the Western Australian sales manager to his superiors, as part of a routine monthly reporting system. The inclusion of comments did not prevent the reports from being financial records, and the fact that sales information was also kept in Yates' computer system did not exclude the hard copy reports from section 1305. Applying a facilitative construction of section 1305(2), it did not matter that the records were not kept for seven years or that no one at Yates adverted to a statutory requirement to keep them. The...

Jurisdiction
Australia
Judgment Date
02 April 2003
Procedural Posture
Evidence Ruling in Civil Proceedings / Ruling on Admissibility of Monthly Sales Reports Tendered by Yates
Outcome
The monthly sales reports of Mr Humphreys are admissible under section 1305 of the Corporations Act.
Legal Topics
['documentary Evidence' 'business Records' 'financial Records' 'corporations Act S1305' 'admissibility of Company Books']
['evidence' 'corporations Law'] ['documentary Evidence' 'business Records' 'financial Records' 'corporations Act S1305' 'admissibility of Company Books']

Case Brief

Summary, issues, holding and outcome

More case intelligence is available

Unlock the full research layer for this judgment.

Full judgment text Downloadable case file Legal principles 1 Authorities cited 2 Party arguments 2 Amounts and remedies 1
Sign in to unlock

Procedural Posture

Evidence Ruling in Civil Proceedings / Ruling on Admissibility of Monthly Sales Reports Tendered by Yates

Legal Issues

  1. 1 ["Whether Mr Humphreys' monthly sales reports were books kept by Yates under a requirement of the Corporations Law or Corporations Act for the purposes of section 1305 of the Corporations Act." 'Whether the monthly sales reports were financial records within the ordinary meaning of that expression despite containing comments as well as sales figures.' 'Whether the reports were kept by Yates, or presumed to be kept, for the purposes of section 1305(2) of the Corporations Act.']

Ratio Decidendi

The monthly sales reports were financial records in the ordinary sense because they recorded financial information, including sales figures and contemporaneous explanations by the Western Australian sales manager to his superiors, as part of a routine monthly reporting system. The inclusion of comments did not prevent the reports from being financial records, and the fact that sales information was also kept in Yates' computer system did not exclude the hard copy reports from section 1305. Applying a facilitative construction of section 1305(2), it did not matter that the records were not kept for seven years or that no one at Yates adverted to a statutory requirement to keep them. The...

Court Disposition

The monthly sales reports of Mr Humphreys are admissible under section 1305 of the Corporations Act.

Orders

  • ['The records constituted by the monthly sales reports of Mr Humphreys are admissible under the provisions of section 1305 of the Corporations Act.']