Former WealthSure clients appeal damages split
Two former WealthSure clients have returned to the High Court of Australia to argue against the apportioning of damages they were seeking in regards to losses sustained due to advice provided by former WealthSure adviser David Bertram.
The case returned to the High Court of Australia in Adelaide yesterday after a hearing in June last year ruled that the $1.7 million in damages being sought by the former clients — Ronald and Janna Selig — was to be apportioned between WealthSure, Bertram and a failed property development group Neovest Limited.
However the court also ruled the Seligs were partly responsible for their own losses and as such would only receive $1.45 million in damages while also being ordered to pay 30 per cent of the appeal costs of WealthSure and the other defendants who sought apportioning.
In appeal documents tended to the High Court legal representation for the Seligs have argued "the Corporations Act provides, upon its natural reading, that loss consequent upon misleading advice from a licensed financial services provider is to be recovered without apportionment".
Paul Heywood-Smith QC, acting for the Seligs, stated in the documents that there were conflicting decisions in other cases from differently constituted appellate courts but that under the Corporations Act that "once a cause of action is established which is nonapportionable the claim is not apportionable even though the facts might give rise to a separate claim that is an apportionable claim".
As such the Seligs are seeking the full damages payment of $1.7 million, interest on that amount from April 2013 when damages were awarded, and payment of costs by WealthSure, Bertram, Neovest, Norton Capital and QBE — WealthSure's professional indemnity insurer.
The case has yet to conclude with the High Court reserving its decision till a later date.
AUTHOR
Jason Spits
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