BOQ's former owner managers still firing back

Submissions concluded yesterday in the appeal by 11 former owner managers of Bank of Queensland branches against last year's judgment in favour of BOQ in the NSW Supreme Court.

The appellants are angling for retrial on the basis that Justice Ball of the NSW Supreme Court made a crucial error leading up to his decision that the OMBs had not been able to demonstrate misleading or unconscionable conduct on the part of BOQ.

The action had its genesis a decade ago and continued for several years, at a time when BOQ turned to a franchise model to expand into NSW.

The decision by Justice Ball meant that damages were not payable.

The appeal, on strict technical grounds over weighting given to various factors and evidence by Justice Ball, was heard by the NSW Supreme Court's two most senior judges, Chief Justice Tom Bathurst and the President of the Court of Appeal Justice, Margaret Beazley, along with the very experienced Justice Reginald Barrett.

BOQ argued in court this week, as indeed it had through most of the 100 days of the original trial, that all prospective owners should have carried out their own investigations before taking on a franchise. The franchise process was usually done via a transaction funded by BOQ, using the OMBs' respective homes as security.

Andrew Lacey, head of litigation at McCabes Lawyers, who advised the former owner managers, said he was satisfied that his clients had been given a fair hearing by the Supreme Court's most senior judges, and said this reflected not only the significance of the case to the banking industry, but to consumer law in general.

BOQ declined to comment further, noting: "it's not appropriate for us to pre-empt the outcome of the appeal process".

It will be some months before a decision is handed down, according to lawyers involved in the case.