Schrader v Broach

[2024] NSWCA 14

NSW Court of Appeal

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Interrogate

Catchwords

1. Appeal
2. › Leave to appeal
3. › Monetary threshold
4. › Whether amount in issue exceeds $100,000
5. › No realistic prospect of damages exceeding threshold
6. › District Court Act 1973 (NSW), s 127(2)(c)
1. Evidence
2. › Witness evidence
3. › Reliability of memory
4. › Fallibility of recollection over time
5. › Susceptibility to unconscious bias
6. › Whether primary judge erred in assessment of witness reliability
1. Consumer Law
2. › Misleading or deceptive conduct
3. › Price estimate in cost plus building contract
4. › Whether price estimate misleading or deceptive
5. › Effect of clear contractual warnings
6. › Conduct to be assessed in context as a whole
7. › Australian Consumer Law, ss 18, 29
1. Consumer Law
2. › Unconscionable conduct
3. › Residential building contract
4. › Breach of contractual obligation to provide budget reports
5. › Whether breach of standard form contract terms constitutes unconscionable conduct
6. › Whether conduct outside societal norms of acceptable commercial behaviour
7. › Australian Consumer Law, s 21

Quick Take

In cost plus building contract disputes, clear contractual warnings about the non-binding nature of price estimates present a significant obstacle to claims of misleading or deceptive conduct based on those estimates, and claims for the cost to complete works must account for the value of works received.