MIR BROS UNIT CONSTRUCTIONS PTY LTD v ROADS & TRAFFIC AUTHORITY OF NEW SOUTH WALES [2006] NSWCA 314

New South Wales Court of Appeal

CITATION: MIR BROS UNIT CONSTRUCTIONS PTY LTD v ROADS & TRAFFIC AUTHORITY OF NEW SOUTH WALES [2006] NSWCA 314

HEARING DATE(S): 11 September 2006

JUDGMENT DATE: 16 November 2006

JUDGMENT OF: Spigelman CJ at 1; Handley JA at 94; Tobias JA at 95

DECISION: Appeal dismissed with costs

CATCHWORDS: RESUMPTION AND ACQUISITION OF LAND – Compensation – Before and After Method – Whether consistent with s 55, Land Acquisition (Just Terms Compensation) Act 1991 – Whether valuation failed to have regard to potentiality of land for subdivision – Where owner used land for development and then holding – Where subject land severed – Whether value of residue increased – Disturbance, Special Value and Severance – Whether compensation could be claimed for purchase of additional floor space equivalent to that which could have been built had resumption not occurred – Whether compensation could be claimed for lost economies of scale

Land Acquisition (Just Terms Compensation) Act 1991: Pt 2,Pt 3 Div 4; ss 5, 7, 54, 55(a), 55(c), 55(f), 56, 57, 58, 59(f), 60 LEGISLATION CITED: Land and Environment Court Act 1979: s 57 Roads Act 1993

Anthony Hordern & Sons Limited v Amalgamated Clothing & Allied Trade Union of Australia (1932) 47 CLR 1 Blacktown City Council v Fitzpatrick Investments Pty Ltd [2001] NSWCA 259 Goold v The Commonwealth (1993) 42 FCR 51 Gosford Council v Green (1980) 48 LGRA 201 Maori Trustee v Minister of Works [1959] AC 1 Maurici v Chief Commissioner of State Revenue (2003) 212 CLR 111 CASES CITED: Melwood Units Pty Ltd v Commissioner of Main Roads [1979] AC 426 MMAL Rentals Pty Ltd v Bruning (2004) 63 NSWLR 167 R v Wallis; Ex parte Employers Association of Woolselling Brokers (1949) 78 CLR 529 Service Design Pty Ltd v Commissioner of Highways (No 2) (1986) 59 LGRA 176 Suttor v Gundowda Pty Ltd (1950) 81 CLR 418 Switz Pty Ltd v Glowbind Pty Ltd (2000) 48 NSWLR 661 Turner v Minister of Public Instruction (1956) 95 CLR 245