Sommerville Kalgoorlie Pty Ltd - ACN 154878869 v Gullan Pty Ltd - ACN 054024332

Sommerville Kalgoorlie Pty Ltd, the plaintiff, brought proceedings against Gullan Pty Ltd, the defendant, in the Supreme Court of Western Australia. The proceedings related to an agreement for the lease of commercial premises in Kalgoorlie, entered into between the parties in 2018. The plaintiff lodged a caveat over the land and sought, amongst other things, a declaration that the agreement for lease was continuing and that the defendant complete the development and grant a lease to the plaintiff. Following a number of failures by the defendant to comply with orders of the court, a Registrar made orders by consent of the parties that if the defendant failed to comply with certain orders by a specified date then the plaintiff would be granted the relief sought in the writ of summons. The defendant failed to comply with those orders. The Registrar made orders giving effect to the springing order and the plaintiff was granted the relief sought. The defendant appealed the orders of the Registrar. The court held that the failure to comply with the springing order was due to the defendant's solicitor and not the defendant. The court held that the prejudice to the defendant if the appeal was dismissed outweighed the prejudice to the plaintiff if the appeal was allowed. The appeal was allowed and the orders of the Registrar were set aside.