Ana Lulic v Denise Lulic

The dispute between Ana Lulic and Denise Lulic was brought before the Supreme Court of South Australia, with Ana seeking to have a contract declared unjust and therefore unenforceable. The contract in question involved the sale of property between the two parties. Ana argued that the contract was unjust due to significant disparity in the bargaining power of the parties and that Denise had taken unfair advantage of Ana's vulnerability.

The legal issues before the court were whether the contract was indeed unjust under the provisions of the Contracts Review Act 1980 and if so, whether the court should exercise its discretion to refuse to enforce the contract. The court had to consider the principles set out in the Act, including whether there was a substantial inequality in the parties' bargaining power and whether any unfairness was significant enough to render the contract unjust.

The court found that there was indeed a substantial inequality in the parties' bargaining power due to Ana's vulnerability and Denise's superior position. However, the court determined that the degree of unfairness did not reach the threshold required to exercise its discretion to refuse to enforce the contract. The court held that while the contract was unjust, the circumstances did not warrant the extreme remedy of refusing to enforce it. The court's reasoning was based on the need to balance the protection of vulnerable parties against the potential disruption to legitimate commercial transactions.

The final orders of the court were in favour of Ana, declaring the contract unjust but not exercising the discretion to refuse to enforce it. The specific orders are detailed in paragraph 188 of the judgment.