12 Sept 2023
The Court affirmed the High Court's finding that the 12 November 2015 email was objectively misleading in context and was reasonably relied upon by Dempsey Wood to continue works, causing foreseeable loss which the Judge permissibly quantified on the available evidence; Companies Act orders were set aside by concession because losses were subsumed in the FTA award.
11 Aug 2023
Hawkins breached its contractual scoping obligation under the RSMA and the CGA guarantee of reasonable care and skill to the Daverns by failing to procure an updated scope for the southwestern retaining works by around March 2016; that breach materially and foreseeably caused additional remedial and retention costs and loss of rent which IAG (subrogated to the Daverns) and the Daverns can recover from QBE as Hawkins' insurer subject to policy excess and contractual limits; interest and costs reserved for later determination.
17 Feb 2022
The Court exercised its inherent jurisdiction to stay the proceedings because clause 13 of the business agreement constituted a clear and sufficiently certain contractual commitment to an alternative dispute resolution process applicable to the claimed breaches; the stay was granted subject to strict procedural timetables and conditions to prevent prejudice and allow the parties to implement the agreed dispute resolution mechanism, with liberty to return to Court if defendants fail to comply.
29 Oct 2021
The appeal was allowed because the District Court erred in awarding damages for loss of a chance: the alleged lost opportunities were too speculative, inadequately pleaded and inadequately supported by evidence (no reliable valuation or offers, contested renovation proofs, uncertain corporate payments and contingencies including lawful forfeiture risk). The only reliable sum was the value of wrongfully retained chattels; the original $66,360.93 award was quashed and substituted with $11,360.93.
15 Sept 2021
Clause 27.3 did not, as a matter of fact, break the causal link between the vendor's misleading carrying-capacity representation and Shabor's loss for the purposes of the Fair Trading Act; accordingly the appellant succeeds on the FTA claim. The correct compensatory measure is the reduction in value ($530,000) reduced for contributory conduct (30%), yielding judgment of $371,000 plus interest from 3 June 2014 at 5%. Separately, clause 27.3, properly construed, precluded inquiry into reliance for the contractual misrepresentation claim and, on a s 50 CCLA evaluative assessment, it was fair and…
15 Oct 2020
The Court awarded actual componentry and labour costs attributable to the defendants' failure to deliver the jointly developed system, deducting amounts plaintiffs were contractually obliged to reimburse; componentry recoverable was $117,350.59 and labour recoverable was $122,725, totaling $240,075.59; loss of profits was rejected as speculative and not proven on the required evidential basis.
25 Jun 2020
The High Court's damages assessment was legally and factually flawed. The Court of Appeal quashed the $510,000 award because the Judge erred by treating the notional licence as exclusive, by failing to account properly for the territorial limits of the copyrighted designs and the actual bargaining position of the licensor (including its indebtedness), and by adopting an unsupported 40% royalty based on anticipated rather than actual profits. Applying the user principle correctly (using established income/available-profits methodology, starting from the 25% rule and adjusting down for the fact…
5 Jun 2020
Where parties by consent agreed detailed tailored discovery categories, the court required disclosure of all documents falling within those agreed categories unless the parties expressly agreed an additional relevance filter for a specific category; Pyne Gould's prior searches were unreasonable and inadequate for a major commercial claim of $22m and must be remediated by expanded searches and discovery; Bath was granted further particulars of its counterclaim damages and certain pleaded factual allegations must be particularised or withdrawn.
20 May 2019
Clause 18 imposed an objective contractual obligation on the vendor to disclose information in its possession that was relevant to the purchaser's due diligence; Wellsford breached that obligation by failing to disclose Caltex's contemporaneous correspondence challenging its OPEX allocation; that omission was misleading or deceptive under the Fair Trading Act and the director Hannam, who was directly and causally involved in receipt and non‑disclosure of the emails, is personally liable under s 9; the purchasers relied on incomplete information and were caused to complete the purchase at a hi…
13 Feb 2019
The Court granted leave for Mr Houghton to resume his Securities Act claim and authorised a stage two hearing limited to the plaintiff and individuals from four identified sub-groups to determine: quantification of loss (difference-in-value or total subscription loss), availability of s 63 defences, and Fair Trading Act claims. The Court recognised the sub-groups for case management purposes but held that evidence from a witness may not be treated in advance as applying to all members of a sub-group; sampling evidence may be pursued but its use to bind others is novel and unlikely to succeed…