Cherie Marise Delaney & Kenneth John Cullinan v Terrence Ralph Winn [2014] NSWDC 87

District Court New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation: Cherie Marise Delaney & Kenneth John Cullinan v Terrence Ralph Winn [2014] NSWDC 87 Hearing dates: 25, 26, 27 February 2014 Decision date: 10 April 2014 Before: Judge MJ Finnane QC Decision: See paragraph [68] Catchwords: CONTRACT Law - engagement for reward - breach - negligent misstatement - negligence - duty DAMAGES - loss of value of property - no causal link TORT - mental harm - no evidence to establish claim OTHER - purchase of property - defect - reliance on property report Category: Principal judgment Parties: Cherie Marise Delaney and Kenneth John Cullinan (Plaintiff) Terrence Ralph Winn (Defendant) Representation: Mr A Vernier (Plaintiff) Mr M Pessman SC/ Ms A Power (Defendant) JP Capsanis Solicitors (Plaintiff) JS Meuller & Co (Defendant) File Number(s): 2012/259470

Judgment 1The plaintiffs, Cherie Marise Delaney and Kenneth John Cullinan have sued the defendant, Terrence Ralph Winn claiming damages for breach of contract arising from what they say was the negligent carrying out of an inspection report on some property the plaintiffs intended to buy. 2The defendant, Terrence Ralph Winn was a building consultant employed by Facility Solutions Australia Pty Ltd, a company controlled by him. Facility Solutions contracted with Harding Industries Pty Ltd as trustee of the Graphic Property Trust, trading as Graphic Property Reports to provide to Graphic Property Reports building reports prepared by Mr Winn. 3The plaintiffs were interested in buying a property at 21 Alison Road Springfield and approached a real estate agent who suggested that they obtain a property inspection report from Graphic Reports. 4It seems to be common ground that the report he was to prepare was one that complied with the relevant Australian standard, AS 4349.1-1995.