Miller v Sunland Park Pty Ltd and Anor (No.2)

Miller was the plaintiff and Sunland Park Pty Ltd and another were the defendants in this proceeding before Judge Simpson in the Supreme Court of Queensland. The dispute concerned the plaintiff's claim for damages for breach of contract and misleading and deceptive conduct arising from the sale of a property. The plaintiff alleged that the defendants had misrepresented the property's suitability for a particular purpose, leading to financial loss.

The central legal issues before the Court were whether the defendants had breached their contractual obligations to the plaintiff and whether they had engaged in conduct that was misleading or deceptive in contravention of the *Trade Practices Act 1974* (Cth) (now the *Competition and Consumer Act 2010* (Cth)). Specifically, the Court had to determine the nature and extent of the representations made by the defendants regarding the property's intended use and whether these representations were false or misleading.

Judge Simpson found that the defendants had made representations that were misleading and deceptive. The Court reasoned that the defendants, through their conduct and statements, had led the plaintiff to believe that the property was suitable for a specific commercial purpose, when in fact it was not. This conclusion was based on an analysis of the evidence presented, including the communications between the parties and the objective characteristics of the property. The Court applied the principles of contract law and the provisions of the *Trade Practices Act* concerning misleading and deceptive conduct, focusing on the objective effect of the representations on a reasonable person in the plaintiff's position.

The Court ordered that the defendants pay damages to the plaintiff in an amount to be assessed.