A plaintiff's deliberate decision to remain in possession of property as a trespasser after lease termination, even on legal advice, may be so dominant in the causal chain as to break the connection between the defendant's misleading conduct and subsequent losses. Where a plaintiff claims damages for losses across multiple farming operations but only one was the subject of the misleading conduct, the plaintiff bears the onus of disaggregating the losses; the defendant does not bear an evidentiary onus to disaggregate where no prima facie case of total loss has been established. Legal costs incurred in connection with litigation are not recoverable as damages in that or related litigation. Under the Soil and Land Conservation Act 1945 (WA), the Commissioner's failure to serve a soil conservation notice following receipt of a reg 4(1) notice does not constitute positive approval of clearing, and no issue of transferability of any such 'approval' arises.
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