Ivers & Ors v Australian Competition and Consumer Commission & Ors

The High Court of Australia considered an appeal by Ivers and others against a decision of the Federal Court of Australia concerning alleged contraventions of the *Trade Practices Act 1974* (Cth) (now the *Competition and Consumer Act 2010* (Cth)). The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) had brought proceedings alleging that the appellants engaged in misleading or deceptive conduct in contravention of section 52 of the Act. The dispute centred on representations made by the appellants in relation to the sale of timeshare holiday properties.

The primary legal issue before the High Court was whether the representations made by the appellants concerning the resale value and marketability of the timeshare properties constituted misleading or deceptive conduct within the meaning of section 52 of the *Trade Practices Act 1974* (Cth). This involved determining whether the representations were false or misleading in a material respect, and whether they were likely to deceive or be misleading to a significant number of consumers.

The High Court, in allowing the appeal in part, reasoned that the representations made by the appellants regarding the guaranteed resale value and the ease of resale of the timeshare properties were indeed misleading and deceptive. Their Honours applied the principles established in cases concerning misleading representations, focusing on the objective tendency of the representations to deceive or mislead a reasonable consumer. The Court found that the appellants had failed to establish that the representations were substantiated or that they had reasonable grounds for making them, thereby contravening section 52. The Court also considered the issue of causation and the extent of the ACCC's entitlement to relief.

The High Court set aside the orders of the Federal Court in relation to certain aspects of the relief granted and remitted the matter to the Federal Court for further consideration of the appropriate remedies.