Case: News Limited v Australian Rugby Football League Limited (1996) 64 FCR 410
Outcome: cited
As Gaudron and McHugh JJ observed in Breen v Williams [1995] HCA 63 ; (1996) 186 CLR 71 at 106, "Australian courts have consciously refrained from attempting to provide a general test for determining when persons [...] stand in a fiduciary relationship". It may be, as their Honours said, that the term "fiduciary relationship" defies definition. This is because of the difficulty of stating a comprehensive principle suitable for application to different types of relationships that carry different obligations: see Hospital Products at 69 per Gibbs CJ; News Limited v Australian Rugby Football League Limited (1996) 64 FCR 410 at 538 per Lockhart, von Doussa and Sackville JJ. 272 Apart from the established categories, perhaps the most than can be said is that a fiduciary relationship exists where a person has undertaken to act in the interests of another and not in his or her own interests but all of the facts and circumstances must be carefully examined to see whether the relationship is, in substance, fiduciary: see Hospital Products at 71-72 per Gibbs CJ; News Limited at 541 per Lockhart, von Doussa and Sackville JJ. 275 Lockhart, von Doussa and Sackville JJ considered that these remarks contain an important question "if not the question": see News Limited at 541. La Forest J also agreed with Professor Finn's remarks in Lac Minerals Limited v International Corona Resources Limited (1989) 61 DLR (4th) 14 at 26. 279 That view is supported by both Australian and English authority: see Chan v Zacharia [1984] HCA 36 ; (1984) 154 CLR 178 at 196 per Deane J; News Limited at 539 per Lockhart, von Doussa and Sackville JJ; Noranda Australia Limited v Lachlan Resources NL (1988) 14 NSWLR 1 at 17 per Bryson J; Woolworths Limited v Kelly (1991) 22 NSWLR 189 at 225 per Mahoney JA; Kelly v Cooper [1993] AC 205 at 213-214 per Lord Browne-Wilkinson. See also Henderson v Merrett Syndicates Limited [1994] UKHL 5 ; [1995] 2 AC 145 at 206 per Lord Browne-Wilkinson. 286 Vulnerability of the client is one of the indicia of the fiduciary relationship. But this would appear to flow from the special opportunity of the adviser to abuse the expectation of loyalty: see Breen v Williams at 134 per Gummow J; Aequitas at [313] per Austin J; cf News Limited at 541 per Lockhart, von Doussa and Sackville JJ; Hospital Products at 97 per Mason J. 287 The subject matter over which any fiduciary obligations will extend must be determined by the character of the venture or undertaking: see Birtchnell v The Equity Trustees, Executors and Agency Company Limited [1929] HCA 24 ; (1929) 42 CLR 384 at 408 per Dixon J; United Dominions v Brian at 13 per Mason, Brennan and Deane JJ; News Limited at 539 per Lockhart, von Doussa and Sackville JJ. This is to be ascertained from the terms of the agreement and the course of dealing between the parties: see News Limited at 539 per Lockhart, von Doussa and Sackville JJ; Australian Breeders Co-operative Society Limited v Jones (1997) 150 ALR 488 at 514 per Wilcox and Lindgren JJ; Beach Petroleum NL v Kennedy [1999] NSWCA 408 ; (1999) 48 NSWLR 1 at [194] per Spigelman CJ, Sheller JA and Stein JA. 323 In Chan v Zacharia , Deane J said in plain terms at 196 that the parties to a partnership agreement could provide "that any fiduciary relationship between the partners was excluded." The observations of Mahoney JA in Woolworths v Kelly at [225] were to the same effect. His Honour said that fiduciary duties could be "varied or released" by contract. Also, in News Limited , a Full Court of this Court (Lockhart, von Doussa and Sackville JJ) said at 539 that whether there are any fiduciary obligations at all may depend on the terms of the contract.