Melbourne City Investments Pty Ltd (now called ACN 161 046 304 Pty Ltd) v Treasury Wine Estates Limited; In the Matter of Treasury Wine Estates Limited (No 4)

In the Federal Court of Australia, Melbourne City Investments Pty Ltd (MCI) contested a claim brought by Treasury Wine Estates Limited (TWE). The dispute centred on the interpretation of a settlement deed executed in a previous proceeding between the parties, specifically whether it precluded TWE from seeking costs in the current proceeding. The court had to decide whether the releases granted by TWE in the settlement deed barred TWE from pursuing its claim for costs in the present matter.

The primary legal issue was the interpretation of the releases in the settlement deed and whether they precluded TWE from claiming costs related to the current proceeding. MCI argued that the releases in the settlement deed should be construed broadly and that TWE's claim for costs was barred. TWE contended that its claim for costs arose from the court's order to permanently stay the proceeding, which was not part of the subject matter of the previous proceeding and thus not covered by the releases.

The court held that the releases in the settlement deed did not bar TWE from claiming costs in the current proceeding. The releases were specific to claims related to the matters that were the subject of the previous proceeding, and TWE's claim for costs arose from the court's order to permanently stay the current proceeding. The court found that the claim for costs was not connected to the subject matter of the previous proceeding and therefore not precluded by the releases. The court also rejected MCI's argument that the releases should be construed broadly, stating that each release must be construed according to its terms in the context in which it was given.

ORDERS:

1. The plaintiff pay the defendant’s costs to date of and incidental to this proceeding including reserved costs, the costs to date of and incidental to the defendant’s Interlocutory Application filed on 21 November 2018 (TWE’s IA) and the costs of this proceeding in the Supreme Court of Victoria (SCI 2014 06831).
2. This proceeding and the balance of TWE’s IA be listed for further case management at 2.15 pm on 6 June 2019.