Commercial Bank of Australia Ltd v Amadio: Difference between revisions

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===Facts===
Giovani and Cesira Amadio, whose son, Vincenzo, carried on business as a builder, [[guarantee]]d their son's indebtedness to the [[Commercial Bank of Australia]]. To this end, they executed certain documents the effect of which was to provide the bank with a [[mortgage]] over a building which they owned. When the son's business failed, the bank sought to enforce the guarantee. In their [[Defense (legal)|defence]], the Amadios asserted that the guarantee was unenforceable because it was [[Unconscionability in English law|unconscionable]]. They were held to be at a "special disadvantage" as an equitable doctrine in [[Equity (law)]].<ref>{{cite journal |title='Unfair' results and unfair doctrines |first=A |last=Sykes |year=2006|journal=Murdoch University Electronic Journal of Law |volume=13 |issue=1 |url=https://elaw.murdoch.edu.au/archives/issues/2006/1/eLaw_Sykes_13_2006_04.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150312052335/https://elaw.murdoch.edu.au/archives/issues/2006/1/eLaw_Sykes_13_2006_04.pdf |archive-date=12 March 2015}}</ref> With unconscionable conduct having no definition at a legislative level (other than conduct lacking in good faith) it is largely up to the presiding judicial member to determine as to whether compliance is efficient on a statutory basis.<ref>{{cite web|title=Commercial Bank of Australia Ltd v Amadio (1983) 151 CLR 447 |url=http://ceds.vu.edu.au/buslaw/commerci.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120503010606/http://ceds.vu.edu.au/buslaw/commerci.htm |archive-date=May 3, 2012 }}</ref>
 
===Supreme Court===
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In cases of proven unconscionability, the courts will set aside the contract or refuse to make an order for specific performance of it. As will be seen, if the unconscionable conduct constitutes a breach of [[statutory law]], broader remedies (including [[damages]]) may be available.
 
[[Harry Gibbs|Chief Justice Gibbs]] stated that "The appellant should in my opinion fail only because of its failure to disclose to the [[respondent]]s matters which it ought to have disclosed" which is that the guarantee was precarious with the state of the [[bank account]] of the son at the time he arranged for his parents to place their property in guarantee, and the very close working relationship between the bank and the son, and that the parents thought that the limit of their liability was only $50,000, not the full value of their [[investment]] property (being of the order of $200,000).
 
The judgment of [[William Deane|Deane J]], was referred to by other judges. He said, "In the present case ... it was ... evident to the bank that Mr. and Mrs. Amadio stood in need of advice as to the nature and effect of the transaction into which they were entering. It is apparent that any such advice would have included the importance to a [[guarantor]] of ascertaining from the bank the state of the customer's account which was being guaranteed and any unusual features of the account. If such information had been obtained by Mr. and Mrs. Amadio, they would not, on the evidence and in the light of the learned trial judge's finding, have entered into the guarantee/mortgage at all. The whole transaction should properly be seen as flowing from the special disability which was evident to the bank and as being unfair, unjust and unreasonable." The customer's account stated here is that of their son who brought the bank guarantee documents to his parents. The bank knew of the poor state of the son's business accounts, and the bank and the son had a history of closely linked business relations with each other. [[Ronald Wilson|Wilson J]] agreed with Deane J.