WRONGS ACT 1958 - SECT 24 Recovery of contribution[3]
WRONGS ACT 1958 - SECT 24
Recovery of contribution[3]S. 24(1) amended by No. 9856 s. 5(a), repealed by No. 10227 s. 8(c)(i).
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S. 24(2) amended by Nos 10227 s. 5(a), 26/2023 s. 69.
(2) Subject to subsections (2A) and (2B), in any proceedings for contribution under section 23B the amount of the contribution recoverable from any person shall be such as may be found by the jury or by the court if the proceeding is without a jury to be just and equitable having regard to the extent of that person's responsibility for the damage; and the jury or the court if the proceeding is without a jury shall have power to exempt any person from liability to make contribution, or to direct that the contribution to be recovered from any person shall amount to a complete indemnity.
S. 24(2A) inserted by No. 10227 s. 5(b).
(2A) Where the amount of the damages which have or might have been awarded in respect of the damage in question in an action brought in Victoria by or on behalf of the person who suffered it against the person from whom the contribution is sought was or would have been subject to—
(a) any limit imposed by or under any enactment or by any agreement made before the damage occurred;
(b) any reduction by virtue of section 26; or
(c) any corresponding limit or reduction under the law of a place outside Victoria—
the person from whom the contribution is sought shall not by virtue of any contribution awarded under section 23B be required to pay in respect of the damage a greater amount than the amount of those damages as so limited or reduced.
S. 24(2B) inserted by No. 10227 s. 5(b), amended by No. 26/2023 s. 69.
(2B) If in any proceedings for contribution under section 23B the jury or the court, if the proceeding is without a jury, finds that the amount of any payment made or agreed to be made in settlement or compromise of a claim was excessive the jury or the court (as the case requires) in assessing the amount of the contribution recoverable from any person shall disregard any part of the payment which appears to it to have been excessive.
S. 24(2C) inserted by No. 10227 s. 5(b).
(2C) Nothing in subsection (2B) applies to a settlement or compromise of a claim of a minor or person of unsound mind that has been approved by the court.
S. 24(3) amended by Nos 10227 s. 8(c)(ii), 57/1989 s. 3(Sch. item 223.5(a)(b)).
(3) No execution for the recovery of contribution under section 23B shall issue without the leave of the court. Upon application for such leave the court may direct that payment to the original plaintiff shall be sufficient satisfaction of the order for contribution.
S. 24(4) substituted by No. 8330 s. 3(1)(a), amended by No. 10227 s. 6(a).
(4) Notwithstanding any provision in any statute requiring a notice to be given before action or prescribing the period within which an action may be brought, where under section 23B any person becomes entitled to a right to recover contribution in respect of any damage from any other person, proceedings to recover contribution by virtue of that right may be commenced by the first-mentioned person—
(a) at any time within the period—
S. 24(4)(a)(i) amended by No. 10227 s. 6(b).
(i) within which the action against the first-mentioned person might have been commenced; or
S. 24(4)(a)(ii) amended by No. 10227 s. 6(b).
(ii) within the period of twelve months after the writ in the action against the first-mentioned person was served on him—
whichever is the longer; or
S. 24(4)(b) amended by No. 10227 s. 6(c)(d).
(b) where another person liable in respect of that damage, within the period within which the action against him might have been commenced or within twelve months after the writ in the action was served on him, serves a writ on the first-mentioned person seeking to recover contribution in respect of that damage from the first-mentioned person—at any time within the period of six months after that writ is so served.
S. 24(4A) repealed. [4]
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S. 24(5) repealed by No. 10227 s. 8(c)(i), new s. 24(5) inserted by No. 102/2003 s. 6.
(5) For the removal of doubt, if an action (the existing action ) was commenced in a court against the first-mentioned person referred to in subsection (4) before 1 October 2003, the period referred to in subsection (4)(a)(i) is to be taken to be the period within which the existing action might have been brought at the time the existing action was brought.
S. 24(6) repealed. [5]
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S. 24AAA inserted by No. 80/2010 s. 160, amended by No. 67/2013 s. 649(Sch. 9 item 36(1)).