Fry v Whitehead

The appellants, Karen and Paul Whitehead, brought a claim against Strategic Mining Pty Limited, represented by the directors, Mark Fry and Scott Fry. The dispute centred on the recovery of a debt that arose from a contract for the provision of services. The case was heard and determined in the Federal Circuit Court of Australia, and subsequently, the appellants sought leave to appeal to the Full Court of the Federal Court of Australia. The legal issues that arose were whether the primary judge had made an error in fact regarding the amount of the judgement and whether there was an error of law in giving judgement against the human appellants instead of the incorporated appellant. Additionally, the court had to consider whether there was sufficient evidence to establish that the human appellants were representing the incorporated appellant. The court determined that the primary judge had indeed made an error of fact in the amount of the judgement, and there was an error of law in giving judgement against the human appellants rather than the incorporated appellant. The court found that there was sufficient evidence to establish that the human appellants were acting on behalf of the incorporated appellant, and therefore, the appeal was allowed. The final orders of the court were that the applications for leave to appeal and appeal were granted, and the judgement order made on 15 April 2011 was amended to read that Strategic Mining Pty Limited was to pay Karen and Paul Whitehead the sum of $9,684.52 within two months of the date of the order.