Tzaneros Investment Pty Ltd v Walker Group Construction Pty Limited; Walker Group Construction Pty Limited v Tzaneros Investment Pty Ltd

The Court of Appeal of New South Wales considered an application to set aside consent orders made by the District Court. The proceedings involved cross-applications between Tzaneros Investment Pty Ltd and Walker Group Construction Pty Limited.

The central legal issue before the Court of Appeal was whether the primary judge had sufficiently misapprehended the question before them, thereby justifying the setting aside of the consent orders. This involved an examination of the nature of consent orders and the circumstances under which they may be reviewed and potentially vacated.

The Court of Appeal determined that there was a sufficiently reasonable argument that the primary judge had misapprehended the question. Consequently, the Court ordered that the District Court orders of 6 March 2023 be set aside. The matter was remitted to the District Court to be heard afresh by a differently constituted bench. Costs of the original hearing were reserved to the judge who would hear the matter anew, while each party was to bear its own costs in the Court of Appeal.