BM Sydney Building Materials Pty Ltd v AWT Building Group (Aust) Pty Ltd

BM Sydney Building Materials Pty Ltd (the plaintiff) sued AWT Building Group (Aust) Pty Ltd (the defendant) for debts owing for goods supplied. The defendant raised an equitable estoppel as a defence, alleging that the plaintiff agreed, under certain conditions, not to claim payment. The defendant claimed that it suffered prejudice by buying goods from the plaintiff and by procuring another party not to sue the plaintiff on a different claim. The court was required to determine whether the defendant established the elements of an equitable estoppel and whether there were breaches of statutory and equitable duties by the de facto director of the defendant.

The court found that the defendant failed to establish the conversation relied upon to ground the equitable estoppel. The court held that the defendant's evidence was not sufficient to prove the conversation occurred. As a result, the court found that there was no sufficient basis to ground an estoppel in equity. The court also found that there were no breaches of statutory and equitable duties by the de facto director of the defendant, and that even if there had been breaches, the plaintiff had not suffered any loss as a result. Consequently, the court dismissed the defendant's defence and ordered the defendant to pay the debts owing to the plaintiff.