Skiwing Pty Limited trading as Cafe Tiffany's v Trust Company of Australia Ltd (Stockland Property Management Ltd)

Skiwing Pty Limited, trading as Cafe Tiffany's, brought an action against the Trust Company of Australia Ltd, which was represented by Stockland Property Management Ltd. The dispute centred on whether Skiwing's claims against Stockland could proceed based on alleged misleading representations that only became actionable at a later date. The case was heard in the Federal Court of Australia.

The legal issues before the court involved the definition and timing of the existence of a cause of action. Skiwing argued that their causes of action did not arise until certain steps taken by Stockland made the representations misleading. The court had to determine whether Skiwing's claims were time-barred and whether the alleged misrepresentations, which were potentially misleading from the outset, could still form part of the cause of action.

The court found that the cause of action, as defined by prior authorities, includes the material facts necessary to prove the misleading nature of the representations. It held that whether a representation was misleading at the time it was made is not solely determined by the facts known at that time. Instead, the court considered that a representation may not be shown to be misleading until certain events occur. However, the court concluded that once representations were relied upon, they became actionable if they later proved to be misleading and if damage had been suffered as a result. The court dismissed the applications to join a second applicant and to amend the statement of claim, finding that the claims were time-barred.

The court also addressed the issue of costs, ordering Skiwing to pay the respondent's out-of-court costs related to the applications, while the respondent was to pay a significant portion of Skiwing's costs of the hearing and their out-of-court costs of the notice of motion. The proceedings were listed for further directions.