Goldspar Australia Pty Ltd v Council of the City of Sydney

Goldspar Australia Pty Ltd (Goldspar) and the Council of the City of Sydney (the Council) were parties to a contract for expert determination. Goldspar sought to challenge the determination made by the expert, submitting that the figure reached indicated the expert had failed to consider a significant part of the material provided. The Council contended that the figure did not necessarily reflect such an omission. The matter came before the Court of Appeal of New South Wales.

The primary legal issue before the Court of Appeal was whether the expert had failed to make a determination in accordance with the contract. A secondary issue arose on appeal, concerning Goldspar's attempt to argue that the contract itself was void on public policy grounds, an argument that had been foreshadowed but abandoned prior to trial. The Court also considered whether the trial judge had erred in exercising discretion to exclude certain evidence.

The Court of Appeal found that the question of whether the expert had departed from the contract was a question of fact, and Goldspar had not made out its case. Regarding the attempt to raise the public policy argument on appeal, the Court held that it was not expedient or in the interests of justice to permit this, particularly as it had been abandoned at trial. The Court also found no error in the trial judge's discretion to exclude evidence, noting the danger of undue waste of time and the slight probative value of the evidence in question.

The appeal was dismissed with costs.