PPK Willoughby Pty Ltd v Baird

PPK Willoughby Pty Ltd, a property developer, brought an action against Baird, a licensed real estate agent, and his employer, alleging that they had breached their contractual obligations by failing to conduct due diligence in their capacity as agents for the plaintiff in a property sale. The case was heard in the Supreme Court of New South Wales. The defendants argued that they had received instructions from the plaintiff, via email, to limit their due diligence inquiries. The plaintiff denied that such instructions were ever given.

The central legal issue for the court was whether an email, which the defendants claimed contained instructions from the plaintiff, could be admitted as evidence. The court had to determine if the email was hearsay and, if so, whether it was admissible under any exception to the hearsay rule. The defendants argued that the email was not hearsay because it was not being used to prove the truth of the contents of the email but to demonstrate that the plaintiff had given instructions that were acted upon. The plaintiff contended that the email was inadmissible hearsay and that the subsequent letter, which was not in dispute, was not relevant to the issue of whether limiting instructions were given.

The court found that the email was indeed hearsay, as it was a statement made outside of court and was being used to prove the truth of the contents. However, the court held that the email was relevant to prove a fact in issue, specifically whether the defendants had received instructions from the plaintiff to limit their due diligence. The court reasoned that the email could support an inference that such instructions had been received, which was a fact in issue in the case. The court also found that the subsequent letter, which was not in dispute, was relevant as it tended to prove the fact in issue, even though it did not directly address the creation of the letter.

The court ordered that the email be admitted as evidence, and the case proceeded to trial on the basis of the admitted evidence.