Spotlight Pty Ltd v Fatseas Investments Pty Ltd

[2020] NSWCA 132

NSW Court of Appeal

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Interrogate

Catchwords

1. Contract
2. › Registered lease
3. › Lessee's covenants
4. › Covenant to maintain and repair premises
5. › Covenant to clean and clear gutters, downpipes and drains
6. › Whether installation of grates and gauze in box gutters constituted breach
7. › Whether failure to remove grates and gauze constituted breach
1. Evidence
2. › Circumstantial evidence
3. › Inferential reasoning
4. › Whether 'only available inference' on evidence that lessee installed grates and gauze
5. › Standard for drawing inferences
6. › Whether open to Court of Appeal to review evidence and make appropriate finding as to most probable inference
7. › Supreme Court Act 1970 (NSW), s 75A
1. Contract
2. › Registered lease
3. › Interest clause
4. › Whether contractual interest payable on unliquidated claim for damages or indemnity
5. › Whether claim for damages for loss of rent constituted 'moneys due pursuant to the Lease'
1. Practice and Procedure
2. › Pre-judgment interest
3. › Discretion
4. › Whether House v The King error shown in choice of date from which interest accrues
5. › Relevance of delay
6. › Whether new argument as to absence of detriment could be raised on appeal
7. › Civil Procedure Act 2005 (NSW), s 100

Quick Take

The Court held that a claim for unliquidated damages for breach of lease covenants does not constitute 'moneys due pursuant to the Lease' for the purpose of a contractual interest clause, and that a party seeking to raise a new argument on appeal regarding the absence of detriment from delay must have raised it below.