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In Farah v Say-Dee, the High Court appeared to assume that fiduciary duties applied to the relationship — despite the parties having agreed that it was a joint venture.
In ASIC v Citigroup, the Victorian Supreme Court confirmed that parties can expressly 'contract out' of fiduciary duties — including in documents such as joint venture agreements.
These cases remind practitioners that they cannot rely on the assumption that fiduciary duties do not apply to joint venturers — even so, express contractual terms can address the issues adequately.
For a more detailed summary of the cases and the differences between partnerships and joint ventures, see our full article here.
Qualifications: BCom, LLB (Hons), Monash University
Daniel is a member of Maddocks Tax and Structuring team. He has expertise advising on both direct and indirect taxes. He has represented private and publicly-listed companies, high net worth family groups and not-for-profit organisations in a broad range of tax and duty matters.
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