Stanton-Long v Federation Training

Stanton-Long (the applicant) brought proceedings against Federation Training (the respondent) in the Supreme Court of Victoria. The dispute concerned the respondent's alleged breach of contract and misleading or deceptive conduct in relation to the applicant's enrolment in a Diploma of Early Childhood Education and Care. The applicant claimed that the respondent had misrepresented the course structure and the availability of employment opportunities upon completion.

The central legal issues before the Court were whether the respondent had breached its contractual obligations to the applicant by failing to provide the course as represented, and whether the respondent's conduct in marketing and delivering the course constituted misleading or deceptive conduct in contravention of the Australian Consumer Law. The Court was required to assess the terms of the enrolment agreement and the representations made by the respondent to determine if these had been breached or were misleading.

Burchardt J found that the respondent had indeed engaged in misleading or deceptive conduct. The Court reasoned that the representations made by the respondent regarding the course structure and the likelihood of employment were not supported by the evidence of how the course was actually delivered and the limited employment outcomes for graduates. The Court applied the principles of contract law and consumer protection legislation, focusing on the objective meaning of the representations made and their likely effect on a reasonable consumer. The Court concluded that the applicant had been induced to enrol in the course based on these misleading representations.

The Court ordered that the respondent pay damages to the applicant, reflecting the losses incurred as a result of the misleading conduct and breach of contract.