City of Wanneroo v Tah Land Pty Ltd

This appeal concerns a dispute between the City of Wanneroo (the City) and Tah Land Pty Ltd (Tah Land) over the interpretation and enforcement of a Deed (the Deed) made between them in 1992. The City alleged that it was entitled to the transfer of 1.5 ha of land for a Community Purposes Site (the Community Purposes Site). The City commenced proceedings in the Supreme Court of Western Australia, which were dismissed. The City now appeals from that dismissal. The Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal, holding that the City was not entitled to the transfer of the Community Purposes Site. The City's grounds of appeal challenged the trial judge's findings that: (a) the City was only entitled to an area of the Land that is for the use of, and provision of, public civic uses (ground 1); (b) there was implied by law a term that the obligations need only be performed by Tah Land if the City called for performance within a reasonable time (ground 2(a)); and (c) a reasonable time had passed by the time the City called for Tah Land to perform that task in 2019 (ground 2(b)). The Court of Appeal found that the learned trial judge had not erred in dismissing the City's claim. The Court of Appeal held that the learned trial judge correctly rejected the City's primary claim that it could call for Tah Land to subdivide and transfer the Community Purposes Site at any time in the future. The Court of Appeal held that, having so concluded, and having regard to the manner in which the case was conducted below, it was not satisfied that her Honour erred in rejecting what she identified as the City's alternative claim.