Hurford Hardwood Kempsey Pty Ltd v Kempsey Timbers (Sawmilling) Pty Ltd [2019] NSWSC 1069

Supreme Court New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation: Hurford Hardwood Kempsey Pty Ltd v Kempsey Timbers (Sawmilling) Pty Ltd [2019] NSWSC 1069 Hearing dates: 22-26 July; 1 and 7-8 August 2019 Decision date: 22 August 2019 Jurisdiction: Equity - Commercial List Before: Stevenson J Decision: Plaintiff entitled to damages for breach of contract; cross claim to be dismissed Catchwords: CONTRACTS – breach of contract – consequences of breach – right to damages – contract for sale of timber mill – warranty about volume of unprocessed stock – provision for adjustment of purchase price if volume less than warranted – whether contract varied to postpone date on which such adjustment to be made – what volume of unprocessed stock was present – purchaser to assume liability for long service leave entitlements of mill employees – asserted understatement of those liabilities – whether vendor agreed to account for the difference – agreement that vendor had access to information on server at the mill after completion – where effective access to that server denied for a week – whether vendor thereby suffered damage Legislation Cited: Evidence Act 1995 (NSW) Personal Property Securities Act 2009 (Cth) Category: Principal judgment Parties: Hurford Hardwood Kempsey Pty Ltd (Plaintiff/Cross-Defendant) Kempsey Timbers (Sawmilling) Pty Ltd (First Defendant/Cross-Claimant) Kempsey Timbers Pty Ltd (Second Defendant/Cross-Claimant) Representation: Counsel: M McCall (Plaintiff/Cross-Defendant) R E Quickenden (Defendants/Cross-Claimants)

Solicitors: Walters Solicitors (Plaintiff/Cross-Defendant) Brook Worthington Lawyer (Defendants/Cross-Claimants) File Number(s): SC 2018/231591