The Court held that s 143(1) of the Fair Trading Act 1999 (Vic), which deems officers to have contravened the Act if they knowingly authorised the company's contravention, applies only to criminal proceedings, not civil proceedings. However, employees who engage in misleading or deceptive conduct in their employer's trade or commerce can be held directly liable under ss 7(1) and 9(1) if they act as more than a mere conduit. The Court upheld findings that a property company and its general manager engaged in misleading and unconscionable conduct by falsely representing ownership of a property, its reasonable price, and high demand to induce an inexperienced buyer to purchase immediately.
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