Masters in Building Training Pty Ltd v State of New South Wales [2022] NSWSC 499

Supreme Court New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation: Masters in Building Training Pty Ltd v State of New South Wales [2022] NSWSC 499 Hearing dates: 26 – 28 October 2021; 1 November 2021 Date of orders: 29 April 2022 Decision date: 29 April 2022 Jurisdiction: Equity Before: Ward CJ in Eq Decision: 1. Order that the defendant pay the plaintiff the amount of $2,071,099.71. 2. Subject to any submissions on costs, order that the defendant pay the plaintiff's costs. Catchwords: CONTRACTS — Breach of contract — Remedies — Debt — Where plaintiff provided vocational education training and obtained funding under a contract with the Department of Education to provide such training — Where plaintiff had various reporting obligations to the Department in order to qualify for funding — Where students were required to "participate" in training, rather than merely access such training — Where defendant terminated the contract following alleged Events of Default — Whether plaintiff entitled to recover money owing under contract as debt — Whether defendant entitled to set off overpayments made to the plaintiff against debt owed to the plaintiff Legislation Cited: Government Information (Public Access) Act 2009 (NSW) National Vocational Education and Training Regulator Act 2011 (Cth) Standards for Registered Training Organisations (RTOs) 2015 (Cth) Cases Cited: Al Jadeed TV v United Broadcasting International Pty Ltd (2011) 283 ALR 205; [2011] FCA 983 Becker Group Ltd v Motion Picture Company of Australia [2004] FCA 630 Bowen Investments Pty Ltd v Tabcorp Holdings Ltd (2008) 166 FCR 494; [2008] FCAFC 38 Briginshaw v Briginshaw (1938) 60 CLR 336; [1938] HCA 34 Burger King Corporation v Hungry Jack's Pty Ltd (2001) 69 NSWLR 558; [2001] NSWCA 187 Butt v McDonald (1896) 7 QLJ 68 Carr v JA Berriman Pty Ltd (1953) 89 CLR 327; [1953] HCA 31 Codelfa Constructions Pty Ltd v State Rail Authority of New South Wales (1982) 149 CLR 337; [1982] HCA 24 Commonwealth v Amann Aviation Pty Ltd (1991) 174 CLR 64; [1991] HCA 54 Coshott v Sakic (1998) 44 NSWLR 667 Currie v Dempsey (1967) 69 SR (NSW) 116; [1967] 2 NSWR 532 Dasreef Pty Ltd v Hawchae (2011) 243 CLR 588; [2011] HCA 21 Duffy Bros Fruit Market (Campbelltown) Pty Ltd v Gumland Property Holdings Pty Ltd [2007] NSWCA 7 Eriksson v Whalley [1971] 1 NSWLR 397 Esso Australia Resources Pty Ltd v Southern Pacific Petroleum NL [2005] VSCA 228 FPM Constructions Pty Ltd v Council of the City of Blue Mountains [2005] NSWCA 340 Garry Rogers Motors (Aust) Pty Ltd v Subaru (Aust) Pty Ltd [1999] FCA 903 GEC Marconi Systems Pty Ltd v BHP Information Technology Pty Ltd (2003) 128 FCR 1; [2003] FCA 50 Hughes Bros Pty Ltd v Trustees of the Roman Catholic Church for the Archdiocese of Sydney (1993) 31 NSWLR 91 Makita (Australia) Pty Ltd v Sprowles (2001) 52 NSWLR 705; [2001] NSWCA 305 Mannai Investment Co Ltd v Eagle Star Life Assurance Co Ltd [1997] AC 749 Masters in Building Training Pty Limited v State of New South Wales (No 2) [2021] NSWSC 747 Masters in Building Training Pty Ltd v State of New South Wales [2021] NSWSC 454 McRae v Commonwealth Disposals Commission (1951) 84 CLR 377; [1951] HCA 79 Mount Bruce Mining Pty Ltd v Wright Prospecting Pty Ltd (2015) 256 CLR 104; [2015] HCA 37 Renard Constructions (ME) Pty Ltd v Minister for Public Works (1992) 26 NSWLR 234 Shepherd v Felt and Textiles of Australia Ltd (1931) 45 CLR 359; [1931] HCA 21 Torbey Investments Corporated Pty Ltd v Ferrara [2017] NSWCA 9 Vodafone Pacific Ltd v Mobile Innovations Ltd [2004] NSWCA 15 Zhu v Treasurer of New South Wales (2004) 218 CLR 530; [2004] HCA 56 Texts Cited: Carter and Peden "Good Faith in Australian Contract Law" (2003) 19(2) Journal of Contract Law 2, 169 Carter, Breach of Contract (2nd ed, 1991, Law Book Company) Phipson, Phipson on Evidence (14th ed, 1990, Sweet & Maxwell) Robert McDougall 'The Implied Duty of Good Faith in Australian Contract Law' (Speech, 9 March 2006) Seddon, Cheshire & Fifoot Law of Contract (11th ed, 2017, LexisNexis Butterworths) Category: Principal judgment Parties: Masters in Building Training Pty Ltd (Plaintiff) State of New South Wales (Defendant) Representation: Counsel: D Lloyd SC, CP O'Neill and K Beattie (Plaintiff) N Simpson (Defendant)