Introduction
In damages claims, interest is usually applied on a
damages amount to the date of judgment. In the Federal Court, this
pre- judgment interest is usually calculated with regard to
Practice Note CM 16. However, there are times where judgment is
required to derive the correct amount of interest.
In this edition of Damages Matters , James Hyden,
Associate Director in our Melbourne office, discusses a recent
decision of the Federal Court in Bathurst Regional Council v
Local Government Financial Services Pty Ltd (No 6) [2013] FCA
144. This case discusses whether pre-judgment interest should be
awarded and, if so, at what rate?
Background
In these proceedings Local Government Financial Services Pty Ltd
('LGFS') purchased $45 million of structured financial
products known as constant proportion debt obligations
('CPDOs') from ABN Amro Bank NV ('ABN'), and then
on sold these instruments to Bathurst Regional Council
('Bathurst') and a group of other local
