United Petroleum Pty Ltd v Perth Airport Pty Ltd (No 2)

The Federal Court held that PAPL engaged in misleading and deceptive conduct under ACL s 18 by representing in tender documents and at an in-person meeting that Qantas would relocate terminals to Airport Central by 2025 or the mid-to-late 2020s, with associated traffic volume increases, when PAPL lacked reasonable grounds for those representations given undisclosed disputes with Qantas, the absence of binding commitments, and significant unresolved commercial and construction prerequisites. The Court found United relied on these representations in entering the AFSL and Sublease at a higher rent ($900,000 pa) and with greater construction expenditure (the Millennium Concept design) than it would have agreed to in an alternative transaction, and that United's loss was measured by the difference between the transaction entered into and the alternative transaction it would have negotiated (lower rent of approximately $500,000 pa and a simpler, cheaper service station). The Court drew adverse Jones v Dunkel inferences from PAPL's failure to call any board member or senior decision-maker to give evidence on the reasonable grounds for the representations.