Jiwunda & Anor v Trustees of the Travel Compensation Fund (No 2)

The matter of Jiwunda & Anor v Trustees of the Travel Compensation Fund (No 2) involved a dispute over the obligations of the defendants to pay interest on the costs of repairing premises under an oral agreement that varied the terms of the original lease agreement. The case was heard in the Supreme Court of Queensland. The plaintiffs sought to enforce the oral agreement, arguing that the defendants were obliged to pay interest on the costs of making good the premises at the rate stipulated in the lease agreement. The defendants, however, maintained that there was no enforceable oral agreement, and even if there were, the plaintiffs were not entitled to interest.

The primary legal issue was whether the oral agreement varied the terms of the lease agreement and, if so, whether the defendants were obliged to pay interest on the cost of making good the premises. Additionally, the court had to determine whether the plaintiffs' Calderbank letter of offer was a genuine offer of compromise. The plaintiffs argued that the letter was a genuine offer of compromise, while the defendants contended that it was not.

The court found that there was an oral agreement that varied the terms of the lease agreement. However, the court held that the defendants were not obliged to pay interest on the cost of making good the premises at the rate stipulated in the lease agreement. The court found that the Calderbank letter of offer was not a genuine offer of compromise. The court awarded costs to the defendants, stating that the plaintiffs' conduct in making the Calderbank letter was unreasonable and amounted to an abuse of process.

The court ordered the plaintiffs to pay the defendants' costs of the proceeding, including the costs of the appeal, in a specified amount.