Television and General Finance Co (Aust) Ltd v Button

Television and General Finance Co (Aust) Ltd (the plaintiff) brought proceedings against Button (the defendant) in the High Court of Australia. The dispute concerned the plaintiff's claim for damages for breach of contract, arising from the defendant's alleged failure to complete the purchase of certain shares. The plaintiff sought to recover the difference between the contract price and the market price of the shares at the time of the alleged breach.

The central legal issue before the High Court was whether the plaintiff had established a valid and enforceable contract for the sale of shares with the defendant. Specifically, the court had to determine if the parties had reached a concluded agreement, and if so, whether the terms of that agreement were sufficiently certain to be legally binding. The court also considered whether the plaintiff had fulfilled its obligations under the purported contract, or if any such obligations were excused by the defendant's conduct.

The High Court, in its judgment, found that no concluded contract had been formed. The court reasoned that the correspondence between the parties did not demonstrate a clear and unequivocal acceptance of an offer. Instead, the communications indicated that further agreement on essential terms was still contemplated, meaning that the parties had not yet reached a state of finality. Consequently, the plaintiff's claim for breach of contract failed as there was no binding agreement upon which such a claim could be founded.