El Ali v Tritton [2019] NSWCA 111

Court of Appeal Supreme Court New South Wales Medium Neutral Citation: El Ali v Tritton [2019] NSWCA 111 Hearing dates: 29 April 2019 Date of orders: 17 May 2019 Decision date: 17 May 2019 Before: Macfarlan JA at [1]; Leeming JA at [2]; Payne JA at [3] Decision: (1) Appeal allowed. (2) Set aside order 1 made by the primary judge on 13 June 2018 and in lieu thereof make the following order: (a) Judgment for the plaintiffs in the sum of $66,934.16 (being $60,000 plus $6,934.16 in interest). (3) The respondents to pay the appellant's costs of the appeal. Catchwords: CONTRACTS – remedies – damages – time of assessment – whether the primary judge erred in finding that the measure of loss was the difference between the price payable under the contract and the amount attributable to the land under a resale contract 9 months later – whether the prima facie rule governing damages for breach of a contract for sale of land should give way where the purchasers did not accept the repudiation of the contract and promptly sought an order for specific performance – whether damages should be assessed at the date the remedy of specific performance was no longer available and the contract was lost – whether the best evidence of the market value of the land at that date was the purchasers' offer of sale 7 months later or the amount attributable to the land under a resale contract 9 months later – where there was no evidence of the terms of the offer

CONTRACTS – remedies – damages – whether the primary judge erred in assessing damages for increased building costs – whether damages for increased building costs were too remote – where the purchasers bought a different kind of property which necessitated a different kind of home – where there was no evidence