Crawley v Short (No 2)

In this appeal and cross-appeal, the parties were Mr. Crawley and Nabatu, concerning a dispute arising from a compulsory purchase order in relation to certain hotel properties. The matter was heard by Allsop P, Macfarlan and Young JJA in the Court of Appeal.

The primary legal issues before the Court of Appeal involved the correct basis for valuing the hotel properties subject to the compulsory purchase order, and the consequential adjustments to the amounts payable between the parties. This included determining the appropriate figures for the increase in value of Nabatu's share in J & J O’Brien Pty Limited and the decrease in value of Nabatu's share in Marsico Holdings Pty Limited.

The Court of Appeal varied the orders of the court below by adjusting the monetary amounts payable between Mr. Crawley and Nabatu. These adjustments reflected a revised valuation of the hotel properties. The Court ordered that Mr. Crawley pay Nabatu for the increase in value of Nabatu's share in J & J O’Brien Pty Limited, and Nabatu pay Mr. Crawley for the decrease in value of Nabatu's share in Marsico Holdings Pty Limited, with both payments to include interest from 15 December 2008. The Court also noted a previous payment made by Mr. Crawley and specified the net amounts to be paid by each party to satisfy the revised orders.

The Court ordered that the previous orders be varied to reflect the recalculated sums. Mr. Crawley was to pay Nabatu an additional sum of $324,865 plus interest, and Nabatu was to pay Mr. Crawley the sum of $801,221 plus interest, with both payments to be made within 21 days of the orders by simultaneous exchange, allowing for netting. There were no orders as to the costs of the appeal and cross-appeal.