Gadesa Trading Pty Ltd

The proceeding concerned an application by Gadesa Trading Pty Ltd (the applicant) for an order that a deed of settlement entered into between itself and the respondent, Mr. Anthony John Gadesa, be set aside. The applicant sought to have the deed declared void on the grounds of alleged misrepresentation and misleading and deceptive conduct. The matter came before M Cooper.

The central legal issues before the court were whether the applicant had been induced to enter into the deed of settlement by representations made by Mr. Gadesa, and if so, whether those representations constituted misleading or deceptive conduct in contravention of the *Australian Consumer Law*. The court was required to determine the truthfulness of the alleged misrepresentations and their causal effect on the applicant's decision to execute the deed.

M Cooper found that the applicant had failed to establish that any misrepresentations were made by Mr. Gadesa, nor had it demonstrated that the applicant relied on any such representations when entering into the deed. The court concluded that the applicant had not discharged its onus of proof in relation to the alleged misleading or deceptive conduct. Consequently, the application to set aside the deed of settlement was dismissed.