Whittaker & Mobbs and Mobbs & Mobbs

The case of *Whittaker & Mobbs and Mobbs & Mobbs* concerned a dispute between two sets of parties, Whittaker & Mobbs and Mobbs & Mobbs, heard before Burchardt J in the Supreme Court of New South Wales. The core of the dispute involved allegations of misleading and deceptive conduct in contravention of section 18 of the Australian Consumer Law (ACL), as well as claims for breach of contract and misleading representations in relation to the sale of a business.

The primary legal issues before the Court were whether the defendants, Mobbs & Mobbs, had engaged in misleading or deceptive conduct by representing that the business was profitable and that the vendor was willing to continue employment with the purchaser, and whether these representations induced the plaintiffs, Whittaker & Mobbs, to enter into the sale agreement. The Court also had to determine whether there had been a breach of contract arising from the alleged misrepresentations and the subsequent termination of the vendor's employment.

Burchardt J found that the representations made by Mobbs & Mobbs regarding the business's profitability were not substantiated by the evidence and constituted misleading conduct under the ACL. The Court reasoned that the defendants had failed to provide adequate disclosure and had presented a misleading picture of the business's financial performance. Furthermore, the Court held that the representation concerning the vendor's continued employment was also misleading, as the vendor had no intention of remaining with the business post-sale. These findings led the Court to conclude that the plaintiffs had suffered loss and damage as a result of the misleading conduct and breaches of contract.

Consequently, Burchardt J ordered that Whittaker & Mobbs were entitled to damages for the losses they incurred due to the misleading and deceptive conduct and the breaches of contract. The Court also made declarations regarding the invalidity of certain contractual provisions and awarded costs to the plaintiffs.