Westpac Banking Corporation v Newey [2013] NSWSC 847

Supreme Court New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation: Westpac Banking Corporation v Newey [2013] NSWSC 847 Hearing dates: 24 June 2013 Decision date: 05 July 2013 Jurisdiction: Equity Division - Expedition List Before: Pembroke J Decision: See paragraph [48] Catchwords: CONTRACT - construction - identification of ambiguity - known objective fact - textual anomaly RECTIFICATION - best evidence of concurrent intention - contemporaneous prior consensus - more reliable than oral evidence at hearing CONTRACT - commercial object - unresolved subjective evidence of divergent commercial purposes - no assistance - no need to resolve Legislation Cited: Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) Trade Practices Act 1974 (Cth) Cases Cited: Australasian Performing Right Association Ltd v Austarama Television Pty Ltd [1972] 2 NSWLR 467 Australian Broadcasting Commission v Australasian Performing Right Association Ltd [1973] HCA 36; (1973) 129 CLR 99 Codelfa Construction Pty Ltd v State Rail Authority of New South Wales [1982] HCA 24; (1982) 149 CLR 337 Commissioner of Stamp Duties (NSW) v Carlenka Pty Ltd (1995) 41 NSWLR 329 Frederick E Rose (London) Ltd v William H Pim Junior & Co Ltd [1953] 2 QB 450 Halford v Price [1960] HCA 38; (1960) 105 CLR 23 Hooker Town Developments Pty Ltd v Director of War Service Homes (1973) 47 ALJR 320 Jireh International Pty Ltd v Western Export Services Inc [2011] NSWCA 137 Mcdonald v Shinko Australia Pty Ltd [1999] 2 Qd R 152 Motteux v The London Assurance Co (1739) 1 Atk 545; 26 ER 343 Royal Botanic Gardens and Domain Trust v South Sydney City Council [2002] HCA 5; (2002) 240 CLR 45 Seven Network (Operations) Ltd v Warburton (No 2) [2011] NSWSC 386; (2011) 206 IR 450 Total Destination Marketing Pty Ltd v Horizons Snowy Mountains Pty Ltd [2011] NSWSC 1349 Watson v Foxman (1995) 49 NSWLR 315 Western Export Services Inc v Jireh International Pty Ltd [2011] HCA 45; (2011) 282 ALR 604 Texts Cited: Spigelman J, From Text to Context: Contemporary Contractual Interpretation (2007) 81 ALJ 322 Mitchell C, Entire Agreement Clauses: Contracting out of Contexualism (2006) 22 J Con L 222 Peden E and Carter J W, Entire Agreement - And Similar - Clauses (2006) 22 J Con L 1 Category: Principal judgment Parties: Westpac Banking Corporation - plaintiff David Thomas Newey - first defendant David Eric Collinge - second defendant Michael Gillis - third defendant Michael Hayter - fourth defendant Marcus McCarthy - fifth defendant Nicholas Dale - sixth defendant Amanda Bond - seventh defendant John Hall - eighth defendant Raymond Perkes - ninth defendant Alan Brown - tenth defendant Michael Pastega - eleventh defendant Carolyn Colley - twelfth defendant Representation: Counsel: I Jackman SC with T Prince - for the plaintiff D Pritchard SC with J S Emmett - for the first to tenth defendants Submitting appearances - for the eleventh and twelfth defendants Solicitors: Allens - for the plaintiff Gillis Delaney Lawyers - for the defendants File Number(s): 2013/118661