Cudgegong Australia Pty Limited v Sydney Metro

Cudgegong Australia Pty Limited (the applicant) appealed to the Court of Appeal of the Supreme Court of New South Wales against orders made by Davies J, which had dismissed the applicant's proceedings against Sydney Metro (the respondent). The respondent had sought to rely on estoppel by representation as a defence.

The primary legal issue before the Court of Appeal was whether the primary judge erred in dismissing the applicant's proceedings on the basis that they disclosed no reasonable cause of action, or alternatively, whether the proceedings should be summarily dismissed. This involved considering whether there was a sufficiently high degree of certainty about the ultimate outcome of the proceedings if they were to proceed to trial. The Court also considered the respondent's potential arguments based on issue estoppel and conventional estoppel.

The Court of Appeal found that the primary judge had erred in dismissing the applicant's proceedings. The Court noted that the respondent had not adduced evidence to address several critical matters necessary to establish its defence of estoppel by representation. Consequently, the Court concluded that it was not sufficiently certain that the proceedings would fail if they went to trial. The Court granted leave to appeal, allowed the appeal, and set aside the orders of Davies J, dismissing the respondent's notice of motion.