Steigrad case – the Australians agree

Download: 2013 PUB BC Steigrad the Australians agree - 23 July.pdf

Directors and insurers can take heart from a recent Australian judgment that defence costs can be paid out of Directors & Officers (D&O) policies – even where third parties may have claims on the money and the pot is not big enough to cover both.

This reinforces the Court of Appeal's ruling last year in the Steigrad case, and should increase the chances of that decision being upheld by the Supreme Court later this year.

The NSW Court of Appeal...

...held, in a comprehensively argued judgment, that directors' legal costs payable under a D&O policy may be paid prior to any judgment or settlement notwithstanding that: