Linfox Transport (Aust) Pty Ltd v Arthur Yates & Co Ltd [2003] NSWSC 281

Linfox Transport (Aust) Pty Ltd v Arthur Yates & Co Ltd [2003] NSWSC 281

The monthly sales reports were records containing financial information, including sales figures and routine explanatory comments by the Western Australian sales manager to his superior, and as a matter of ordinary language were financial records. The existence of computerised sales records did not exclude the hard-copy reports from section 1305, and the inclusion of comments did not prevent the reports from being financial records. Approaching section 1305 facilitatively, the fact that the reports were kept only for a time and not retained for seven years did not prevent admissibility. The records constituted by Mr Humphreys' monthly sales reports were therefore admissible under section...

Jurisdiction
Australia
Judgment Date
02 April 2003
Procedural Posture
Commercial List Proceeding / Evidentiary Ruling on Admissibility of Monthly Sales Reports
Outcome
Monthly sales reports held admissible under section 1305 of the Corporations Act.
Legal Topics
['documentary Evidence' 'business Records' 'admissibility Under Section 1305 of the Corporations Act' 'financial Records Kept by a Body Corporate']
['evidence' 'corporations Law'] ['documentary Evidence' 'business Records' 'admissibility Under Section 1305 of the Corporations Act' 'financial Records Kept by a Body Corporate']

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

Commercial List Proceeding / Evidentiary Ruling on Admissibility of Monthly Sales Reports

Legal Issues

  1. 1 ['Whether the monthly sales reports prepared by Mr Humphreys were financial records or books kept by Yates under a requirement of the Corporations Law or Corporations Act for the purposes of section 1305.' 'Whether the presumption in section 1305(2) applied to the reports.' 'Whether comments inserted by Mr Humphreys prevented the reports from being financial records.']

Ratio Decidendi

The monthly sales reports were records containing financial information, including sales figures and routine explanatory comments by the Western Australian sales manager to his superior, and as a matter of ordinary language were financial records. The existence of computerised sales records did not exclude the hard-copy reports from section 1305, and the inclusion of comments did not prevent the reports from being financial records. Approaching section 1305 facilitatively, the fact that the reports were kept only for a time and not retained for seven years did not prevent admissibility. The records constituted by Mr Humphreys' monthly sales reports were therefore admissible under section...

Court Disposition

Monthly sales reports held 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.' 'Particular expressions in individual documents that may be the subject of separate objection will be considered separately.']