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High Court Bulletin

Produced by the Legal Research Officer,
High Court of Australia Library

[2017] HCAB 3 (26 April 2017)

A record of recent High Court of Australia cases: decided, reserved for judgment, awaiting hearing in the Court’s original jurisdiction, granted special leave to appeal, refused special leave to appeal and not proceeding or vacated

1: Summary of New Entries
2: Cases Handed Down
3: Cases Reserved
4: Original Jurisdiction
5: Special Leave Granted
6: Cases Not Proceeding or Vacated
7: Special Leave Refused

1: Summary of New Entries

2: Cases Handed Down

Case	Title
Ecosse Property Holdings Pty Ltd v Gee Dee Nominees Pty Ltd	Contract Law
Re Day (No 2)	Court of Disputed Returns
Kendirjian v Lepore & Anor	Negligence

3: Cases Reserved

Case	Title
Knight v State of Victoria & Anor	Constitutional Law
The Queen v Dickman	Criminal Law
IL v The Queen	Criminal Law
SZTAL v Minister for Immigration and Border Protection & Anor; SZTGM v Minister for Immigration and Border Protection & Anor	Migration
Graham v Minister for Immigration and Border Protection; Te Puia v Minister for Immigration and Border Protection	Migration
Forrest & Forrest Pty Ltd v Wilson & Ors	Mining
Commissioner of Taxation v Jayasinghe	Taxation

4: Original Jurisdiction

Case	Title
Falzon v Minister for Immigration and Border Protection	Migration

5: Special Leave Granted

Case	Title
Craig v The Queen	Criminal Law
Hamra v The Queen	Criminal Law
Commissioner of the Australian Federal Police v Hart & Ors; Commonwealth of Australia v Yak 3 Investments Pty Ltd as Trustee for Yak 3 Discretionary Trust & Ors; Commonwealth of Australia & Anor v Flying Fighters Pty Ltd & Ors	Criminal Law
Koani v The Queen	Criminal Law

6: Cases Not Proceeding or Vacated

Case	Title
Esso Australia Pty Ltd v Australian Workers’ Union; Australian Workers’ Union v Esso Australia Pty Ltd	Industrial Law

2: Cases Handed Down

The following cases were handed down by the High Court of Australia during the April 2017 sittings.

Contract Law

Ecosse Property Holdings Pty Ltd v Gee Dee Nominees Pty Ltd

M143/2016: [2017] HCA 12

Judgment delivered: 29 March 2017

Coram: Kiefel, Bell, Gageler, Nettle and Gordon JJ

Catchwords:

Contract – Construction and interpretation of contracts – Long-term lease – Standard form contract – Where parties entered lease because unable to effect sale and purchase of land due to planning restrictions – Where standard form lease amended by parties – Where clause pertaining to payment of rates, taxes, assessments and other outgoings ambiguous – Whether parties intended lease to resemble sale and purchase of land – Whether lessee liable to pay all rates, taxes, assessments and other outgoings or only liable to pay those payable in lessee's capacity as tenant.
Words and phrases – "commercial purpose and objects", "commercial sense", "deletions from standard form contract", "in respect of the said premises", "payable by the tenant", "reasonable businessperson".

Appealed from VSC (CA): [2016] VSCA 23

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Court of Disputed Returns

Re Day (No 2)

C14/2016: [2017] HCA…

Grounds of appeal

[14] The appellant contends that the primary judge erred in finding that the respondent had discharged the onus of establishing the matters required under the relevant provision.

[15] It was submitted that his Honour failed to give adequate weight to the evidence of the second witness, and that the findings of fact were not reasonably open on the material before the Court.

[16] The respondent, for its part, submits that no error is disclosed, and that the conclusions reached were well within the range of outcomes available to the primary judge.

Consideration

[17] It is convenient to deal first with the question of construction, as the resolution of that issue informs the remaining grounds advanced by the appellant.

[18] For the reasons that follow, we are of the view that the appeal should be allowed in part and the matter remitted for further determination.

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Details

Case: [2017] HCAB 3
Decision Date

CaseChat Overview and Summary

In the case of Ecosse Property Holdings Pty Ltd v Gee Dee Nominees Pty Ltd, the High Court considered the interpretation of a long-term lease agreement that had been amended by the parties. The dispute centred on a clause pertaining to the payment of rates, taxes, assessments and other outgoings, which was found to be ambiguous. The court had to determine whether the lessee was liable to pay all such outgoings or only those payable in their capacity as tenant. The legal issues involved interpreting the contract and the meaning of certain terms, such as "payable by the tenant" and "in respect of the said premises". The court ultimately found that the lessee was only liable to pay those outgoings that were payable in their capacity as tenant.

The reasoning of the court was based on a detailed analysis of the contract and the intentions of the parties as expressed in the agreement. The court considered the deletions from the standard form contract, the commercial purpose and objects of the lease, and the reasonable businessperson standard. The court held that the lessee was not liable for outgoings that were not directly related to the use of the premises as a tenant. This decision provides guidance on the interpretation of lease agreements and the liability of lessees for outgoings.

Orders