NARKOVIC & SOTOS

In the matter of *Narkovic & Sotos*, Carew J of the Supreme Court of New South Wales was required to determine a dispute concerning the interpretation of a deed of settlement and its implications for the enforcement of certain contractual obligations. The parties, Narkovic and Sotos, had entered into a settlement agreement to resolve prior litigation, but a disagreement arose regarding the precise scope and enforceability of specific clauses within that deed.

The central legal issue before the Court was whether the deed of settlement, as drafted, effectively extinguished certain rights and obligations that had existed between the parties prior to its execution, particularly in relation to ongoing financial commitments. This required the Court to consider principles of contractual interpretation, including the ordinary meaning of the words used, the context in which the deed was made, and the purpose the parties intended to achieve by entering into the settlement.

Carew J applied established principles of contractual construction, emphasising that the Court must ascertain the objective intention of the parties from the language of the deed itself. The Court examined the specific wording of the relevant clauses, considering their relationship to the overall scheme of the settlement. The reasoning focused on whether the language used evinced a clear intention to release or discharge the obligations in question, or whether those obligations were preserved by other provisions within the deed. The Court ultimately found that the language of the deed did not operate to extinguish the obligations in dispute.