Contractual disclaimers, no-reliance clauses, and exclusion clauses cannot preclude claims for misleading or deceptive conduct under s 18 of the Australian Consumer Law or claims in deceit where the seller's conduct involved systematic fraud. Disclaimers form part of the surrounding circumstances in assessing whether conduct is misleading when viewed as a whole, but they cannot render true what is false or negate the misleading character of inherently dishonest conduct. For causation under s 236 ACL, direct reliance on specific representations is not necessary where the claimant lost the opportunity to obtain advice and terminate the transaction. In assessing damages for fraud or misleading conduct in the sale of a business, the Potts v Miller approach (price paid minus true value) applies, and post-acquisition events may only be taken into account where they are intrinsic to the asset and not attributable to the purchaser's actions.
The full text is available to signed-in members, including the 26 later cases that cite this judgment.
8 of the 26 citing cases carry a classified treatment. How each court treated it is available to signed-in members.