Applications by defendants for summary judgment alternatively strike out
Quick Take
1The provision of informal pre-lodgment planning advice or guidance by public officers, in circumstances where no formal application has been lodged and the advice is not binding on any ultimate decision-maker, does not constitute an exercise of public power or a de facto exercise of power incidental to public office capable of grounding the tort of misfeasance in public office.
2Where a plaintiff was repeatedly advised to lodge a formal application for development approval and to seek review by the State Administrative Tribunal if refused, but chose not to do so, the pre-lodgment advice cannot be characterised as having caused the plaintiff to be 'forced to stop' or as having caused actionable damage.
3Liability for misfeasance in public office cannot be established by aggregating the acts and knowledge of multiple individual officers; the mental and physical elements of the tort must coalesce in one individual.
