Darin William Blain & Anor v Blain Dairying Pty Ltd as trustee of the Blain Trading Trust & Anor [2026] VSCA 226 — Joint Venture & Signed, Written ‘Farming Agreement’ — Barrister AI
Darin William Blain & Anor v Blain Dairying Pty Ltd as trustee of the Blain Trading Trust & Anor
Two apparent signatories denied signing Farming Agreement
Whether trial judge erred in finding Farming Agreement was signed by all parties
Quick Take
1An effective tender of payment that is unreasonably refused by the creditor does not discharge the underlying debt; the debtor may raise the refused tender as a defence to breach or default claims and to defeat claims for interest from the date of tender, but the debt itself subsists until actually paid
2Where a trial judge's factual findings are affected by impressions about the credibility and reliability of witnesses formed by seeing and hearing them give evidence, an appellate court will only interfere if those findings are 'glaringly improbable' or 'contrary to compelling inferences'
3A forensic document examiner's opinion of 'moderate support' for a forgery hypothesis, expressed in qualified terms and subject to identified limitations, does not compel a finding of forgery, particularly where objective contemporaneous evidence strongly supports the authenticity of the signatures
