Business and Corporate Law: Case Study on James Hardie

BUSINESS AND
CORPORATE LAW

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION......................................................................................................................3
TASK 1......................................................................................................................................3
1.1Introduction of case...........................................................................................................3
TASK 2......................................................................................................................................3
2.1 Duties and responsibilities under corporation act............................................................3
TASK 3......................................................................................................................................6
3.1 Discussion on judgement of court....................................................................................6
CONCLUSION..........................................................................................................................7
REFERENCES...........................................................................................................................8

INTRODUCTION
The Business or corporate law can be understood as the legal practices that are made
by tribunal for controlling all the activities that are conducted in corporate world. Different
laws that are made in this sector cover shareholders, directors, workers and creditors of any
organisation. It defines various acts and principles that govern activities related to companies
so that no illegal practices can be followed within any firm (Muchlinski, 2012). In the present
report, there is a discussion over business and corporate law. As per this, there is a discussion
over the case of Australia that has covered the corporation act and its different sections
according to which duties of directors and officers within workplace have been defined.
Besides this, there will be a critical discussion about the judgement given by tribunal in stated
case so as to understand all the essential elements that are involved in corporations act.
TASK 1
1.1Introduction of case
James Hardie is a building material company which is headquartered in Ireland and
founded in Australia. The stated organisation is a manufacturer of fibre cement building
products firm that is listed in Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) as well. As per the case,
in 2001, two auxiliary firms of James Hardie group were filed with large liabilities that were
linked with asbestos claims. There were some of the sufferers who demanded for the
compensation against the losses and diseases caused as a result of asbestos (Phillips, Turco
and Zuckerman, 2013). Thus, a foundation was structured by cited enterprises so as to give
the compensation to sufferers. After this, the members of board of directors made a
declaration to Australian securities exchange entailing about the funds that were sufficient for
meeting all claims of compensation. However, later it was found that the declaration made
by firm was fake and as the structured foundation was underfunded by $1.5 billion. As a
result, the Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC) took an action against
the entity’s directors and company secretary Mr. Shafron.
TASK 2
2.1 Duties and responsibilities under corporation act
It has been manifested that in recent years, the tribunal has closely looked into the
matters of corporate governance and the role of directors and company secretaries as well