Nina Morgan

Nina’s experience includes:

• Energy: Nina assists electricity retailers and distributors with various types of claims including the defence of claims arising from the interruption in energy supply; the prosecution and defence of contractual disputes; the recovery of unpaid electricity charges; the prosecution and defence of property damage claims; and the defence of personal injury claims. By way of example, Nina recently assisted an energy retailer with its defence of a claim arising from payments made under mistake of fact or law due to duplicate metering at a shopping centre. The plaintiff sought restitution from Nina’s client in its capacity as the financially responsible market participant for the relevant transmission node identifier and as the plaintiff’s retailer at various points in time;
• Intellectual Property: Nina acted for EMI Music Publishing Australia Pty Ltd and Men at Work in their defence of Federal Court proceedings that alleged that Men at Work’s internationally successful musical work Down Under infringed the copyright in Kookaburra Sits in the Old Gum Tree. This high-profile case involved complex questions regarding ownership of copyright, misleading and deceptive conduct, authorised reproduction, and quantification of damages;
• Building and Construction: Nina acted for the principal on a dispute arising from a contract for the design and construction of a wastewater collection and transportation system. The High Court unanimously held that the expert determination was binding and, in doing so, precluded the contractor from commencing proceedings to litigate its extension of time claims. This case is now the leading authority on the level of reasoning that is required in expert determinations; and
• Contractual Disputes: Nina acted for Australia’s highest earning entertainment company in relation to Supreme Court proceedings commenced against a company that had failed to promote and arrange performances of an internationally successful stage production in South Korea and China. The dispute turned upon the proper construction of the contract in terms of the meaning of ‘Guaranteed Fee’ and Force Majeure events.