Dear Colleagues; In the fairly brief decision of Tabcorp Holdings Ltd v Bowen Investments Pty Ltd [2009] HCA 8 (12 February 2009) http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/cases/cth/HCA/2009/8.html, the High Court of Australia held that in a case where a tenant had "in contumelious disregard" of lease obligations destroyed and rebuilt the foyer of a commercial property without the landlord's approval, that the landlord could recover, not simply the difference in the ultimate value of the property with the new foyer from that with the old, but effectively the full cost of reinstating the original foyer. At [13] there is a rejection of the view that "anyone who enters into a contract is at complete liberty to break it provided damages adequate to compensate the innocent party are paid." There was general discussion of when rectification damages can be awarded as opposed to the diminution in value.
Regards
Neil F
Neil Foster
Senior Lecturer, LLB Program Convenor Newcastle Law School Faculty of Business & Law
MC158, McMullin Building University of Newcastle Callaghan NSW 2308 AUSTRALIA ph 02 4921 7430 fax 02 4921 6931