Preview: Wasted Expenditure and Contract Damages with Katy Barnett and David Winterton

BenchTV subscribers can watch the full video here:

 

You can subscribe to BenchTV here:

 

What was the decision of the High Court in Cessnock City Council v 123 259 932 Pty Ltd [2024] HCA? How does it relate to High Court decision in Commonwealth v Amann Aviation Pty Ltd [1991] HCA 54? What is the facilitation principle adopted by the High Court? What practical consequences does the decision have on commercial contracting?

Join Katy Barnett (Professor, Melbourne Law School, Victoria) and David Winterton (Associate Professor, University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong) as they discuss the principles surrounding wasted expenditure as contractual damages following the High Court decision of Cessnock City Council v 123 259 932 Pty Ltd [2024] HCA in a BenchTV continuing legal education video. Published on: [14.08.2025]

Discussion Includes:

  • Ramifications of the decision in Cessnock
  • McRae v Commonwealth Disposals Commission
  • Commonwealth v Amann Aviation Pty Ltd [1991] HCA 54
  • Facts in Cessnock
  • When are reliance damages appropriate?
  • The Facilitation Principle
  • What expenditure did the plaintiff incur in performance of the contract?
  • Is the expenditure reasonable?
  • If the contract had been fully performed would the plaintiff have recouped the expenditure?
  • Justice Gageler’s dissent
  • Exclusion clauses and wasted expenditure claims

Presenter Profiles

Katy Barnett David Winterton

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Cases

  • Cessnock City Council v 123 259 932 Pty Ltd [2024] HCA 17
  • McRae v Commonwealth Disposals Commission [1951] HCA 79
  • Commonwealth v Amann Aviation Pty Ltd [1991] HCA 54
  • Hadley v Baxendale is (1854) 9 Ex 341; 156 ER 145
  • Amory v Delamirie (1722) 1 Strange 505
  • Anglia Television Ltd v Reed [1972] 1 QB 60
  • Soteria Insurance Ltd v IBM United Kingdom Ltd [2022] EWCA Civ 440
  • Omak Martitime Ltd v Mamola Challenger Shipping Co [2010] EWHC 2026

Secondary Sources

  • L.L Fuller and William R Perdue, Jr, The Reliance Interest in Contract Damages:1, 46 Yale L J 52 (1936)
  • David Winterton, Reassessing ‘Reliance Damages’: The High Court Appeal in Cessnock City Council v 123 259 932 Pty Ltd [2024] SydLawRw 4.