Peter is a real estate developer. He develops residential apartment in Wollongong. He purchases a block of land for $2 million and plans to build an apartment for profit. But Wollongong Council denies his development application because of a road widening proposal that will reduce the size of the block. This road widening proposal reduces the value of the block to $1 million. Peter obtained a certificate from Wollongong Council before he purchased the land. He reviews the information in the certificate. If the block of land had been subject to a road widening proposal then it should have been disclosed by Wollongong Council in the certificate. There is no disclosure in the certificate. As Peter didn’t bother to read the certificate before he purchased the land, he is relieved to find the council has made this mistake. He knows that if Wollongong Council has included the road widening disclosure in the certificate, he would not have seen it and will purchase the land anyway. Peter wants to sue Wollongong Council in negligence for economic loss. Wollongong Council claims that negligence only applies to physical actions, not written words, and is only applicable to physical damage to people or their property, not economic loss.
advice the defences in negligence including issue, rule, application and conclusion using the relevant cases
