Where parties have an established course of business involving inspection and acceptance procedures, a party who inspects goods and raises only minor issues while remaining silent about a known major problem (such as suspected stolen goods) engages in misleading or deceptive conduct under s 52 of the Trade Practices Act. The incomplete statement, in context, conveys a representation that the goods have been accepted. Reliance on such a misrepresentation may be inferred from circumstantial evidence where the representee acts consistently with the representation.
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