Milicevic & Anor v Ferrari East Pty Ltd & Ors (No 3) [2023] NSWSC 1116

Supreme Court New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation: Milicevic & Anor v Ferrari East Pty Ltd & Ors (No 3) [2023] NSWSC 1116 Hearing dates: 1, 2, 3, 4, 7 and 8 March 2022. Further evidence and submissions 20 May and 10 June 2022 Date of orders: 14 September 2023 Decision date: 14 September 2023 Jurisdiction: Equity Before: Henry J Decision: See [616]–[621] Catchwords: CONTRACTS — partly oral and partly written contract — ascertainment of terms — where parties accept existence of agreement — whether agreement provided for a transfer to defendants of the plaintiffs' shares and units in a joint venture vehicle or transfer of unencumbered legal title to 60% of assets or some other term — terms contended for by plaintiffs and defendants not established — parties' claims for contractual relief fail CONTRACTS — misleading conduct under statute — misleading or deceptive conduct — representation with respect to a future matter — whether representations were misleading or deceptive — whether evidence of reasonable grounds for representations — whether counterfactual is the continued operation of the joint venture — whether appropriate approach to calculation of damages — plaintiffs entitled to relief under Australian Consumer Law Legislation Cited: Australian Consumer Law and Fair Trading Act 2012 (Vic) Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (Cth) Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) Fair Trading Act 1987 (NSW) Frustrated Contracts Act 1978 (NSW) Sale of Goods Act 1923 (NSW) Cases Cited: Arktos Pty Ltd v Idyllic Nominees Pty Ltd (2004) ATPR 42-005; [2004] FCAFC 119 Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) v Woolworths Group Ltd (formerly called Woolworths Ltd) (2020) 281 FCR 108; [2020] FCAFC 162 Baltic Shipping Co v Dillon (1993) 176 CLR 344; [1993] HCA 4 Berry v CCL Secure Pty Ltd (2020) 271 CLR 151; [2020] HCA 27 BP Refinery (Westernport) Pty Ltd v Shire of Hastings (1977) 180 CLR 266 Branir Pty Ltd v Owston Nominees (No 2) Pty Ltd (2001) 117 FCR 424; [2001] FCA 1833 Calleby Pty Ltd v Leros Pty Ltd (Unreported, Supreme Court of Western Australia, Steytler J, 30 May 1997) CH Real Estate Pty Ltd v Jainran Pty Ltd; Boyana Pty Ltd v Jainran Pty Ltd (2010) 14 BPR 27,361; [2010] NSWCA 37 Codelfa Construction Pty Ltd v State Rail Authority of New South Wales (1982) 41 ALR 367; [1982] HCA 51 Commonwealth v Amann Aviation Pty Ltd (1991) 174 CLR 64; (1991) 104 ALR 1 Consolo Ltd v Bennett (2012) 207 FCR 127; [2012] FCAFC 120 County Securities Pty Ltd v Challenger Group Holdings Pty Ltd [2008] NSWCA 193 Creen v Wright (1876) 1 CPD 591; [1874-80] All ER Rep 747 Crown Melbourne Ltd v Cosmopolitan Hotel (Vic) Pty Ltd (2016) 260 CLR 1 Cummings v Lewis (1993) 41 FCR 559 Davinski Nominees Pty Ltd v I & A Bowler Holdings Pty Ltd [2011] VSC 220 Davis Contractors Ltd v Fareham Urban District Council [1956] AC 696 Demagogue Pty Ltd v Ramensky (1992) 39 FCR 31 Digi-Tech v Brand (Australia) Ltd v Brand (2004) 62 IPR 184; [2004] NSWCA 58 Fox v Percy (2003) 214 CLR 118; [2003] HCA 22 Gould v Vaggelas (1984) 157 CLR 215; (1984) 56 ALR 31 Henville v Walker (2001) 206 CLR 459; [2001] HCA 52 Hong Kong Fir Shipping Co Ltd v Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha Ltd [1962] 2 QB 26 Houghton v Arms (2006) 225 CLR 553; [2006] HCA 59 Houghton v Immer (1997) 44 NSWLR 46 J Lauritzen AS v Wijsmuller BV [1990] 1 Lloyd's Rep 1 Jireh International Pty Ltd v Western Export Services Inc [2011] NSWCA 137 Jones v Dunkel (1959) 101 CLR 298 King v Adams [2016] NSWSC 1798 Masters v Cameron (1954) 91 CLR 353; [1954] HCA 72 Masterton Homes Pty Ltd v Palm Assets Pty Ltd (2009) 261 ALR 382; [2009] NSWCA 234 Merost Pty Ltd v CPT Custodian Pty Ltd [2014] FCA 97 Miller & Associates Insurance Broking Pty Ltd v BMW Australia Financial Ltd (2010) 241 CLR 357; [2010] HCA 31 Moratic Pty Ltd v Lawrence James Gordon (2007) 13 BPR 24,713; [2007] NSWSC 5 National Australia Bank Ltd v Dionys [2016] NSWCA 242 O'Connor v O'Connor [2021] NSWSC 1056 Pennington v Norris (1956) 96 CLR 10; [1956] HCA 26 Perreira v Director of Public Prosecutions (1988) 82 ALR 217; [1988] HCA 57 Quinn v Jack Chia (Australia) Ltd [1992] 1 VR 567 Re Continental C&G Rubber Co Pty Ltd (1919) 27 CLR 194 Realestate.com.au Pty Ltd v Hardingham (2022) 406 ALR 678; [2022] HCA 39 Roxborough v Rothmans (2001) 208 CLR 516; [2001] HCA 68 Scanlan's New Neon Ltd v Tooheys Ltd (1943) 67 CLR 169 Sykes v Reserve Bank of Australia 88 FCR 511; [1998] FCA 1405 Taylor v Johnson (1983) 151 CLR 422; [1983] HCA 5 Ting v Blanche (1993) 118 ALR 543 Toll (FGCT) Pty Ltd v Alphapharm Pty Ltd (2004) 219 CLR 165; [2004] HCA 52 Troulis v Vamvoukakis [1998] NSWCA 237 Urusoglu v MSU Management Pty Ltd [2011] NSWSC 54 Wardley Australia Ltd v Western Australia (1992) 175 CLR 514; (1992) 109 ALR 247 Watson v Foxman (1995) 49 NSWLR 315 Willett v Thomas [2012] NSWCA 97 Wyzenbeek v Australasian Marine Imports Pty Ltd (in liq) (2019) 272 FCR 373; [2019] FCAC 167 Texts Cited: J D Heydon, Heydon on Contract (2019, Thomson Reuters) N Seddon, Cheshire and Fifoot – Law of Contract (11th ed, 2017, LexisNexis) Category: Principal judgment Parties: Haris Milicevic (First Plaintiff/First Cross-Defendant) Jasmine Milicevic (Second Plaintiff/Second Cross-Defendant) Ferrari East Pty Ltd (First Defendant/Cross-Claimant) Gerard Ferrari (Second Defendant) Bevan Ferrari (Third Defendant) Representation: Counsel: R Clark (Plaintiffs/Cross-Defendants) J Young with A Lim (Defendants/Cross-Claimant)