Morrison v Sarkis

The Full Federal Court of Australia, constituted by Crennan and Keane JJ, considered an appeal concerning the enforceability of a settlement agreement. The appellant, Morrison, sought to enforce an agreement reached with the respondent, Sarkis, to settle a dispute arising from a prior contractual relationship. Sarkis resisted enforcement, alleging that the settlement agreement was voidable due to misleading or deceptive conduct.

The central legal issue before the Court was whether Sarkis had established a defence to the enforcement of the settlement agreement based on misleading or deceptive conduct in contravention of section 18 of the Australian Consumer Law. This required the Court to determine if any representations made by Morrison were misleading or deceptive, and if so, whether those representations induced Sarkis to enter into the settlement agreement.

The Court found that Sarkis had failed to establish that any representations made by Morrison were misleading or deceptive. Their Honours reasoned that the alleged representations were either statements of opinion or were not causative of Sarkis entering into the settlement agreement. Consequently, the Court held that the settlement agreement was binding and enforceable. The appeal was allowed, and the orders of the primary judge were set aside.