The doctrine of equitable common mistake as articulated in Solle v Butcher is not available in Queensland, following Great Peace Shipping and Australia Estates v Cairns City Council. A common mistake as to the value of property is not a sufficiently fundamental mistake to ground equitable relief even if the doctrine existed. When assessing whether proposed amendments introduce new causes of action for the purposes of r 376(4)(b) UCPR, the court will compare the material facts constituting the duty and its breach, not merely the general subject matter; a vague or broad original allegation cannot be relied upon to argue that specific new allegations arise from substantially the same facts. Claims based on the fair dealing rule (governing a trustee's purchase of a beneficiary's interest) may be characterised as claims for breach of fiduciary duty rather than breach of trust, with consequences for limitation periods under s 27 of the Limitation of Actions Act 1974 (Qld).
The full text is available to signed-in members, including the 30 later cases that cite this judgment.
6 of the 30 citing cases carry a classified treatment. How each court treated it is available to signed-in members.