Email correspondence leads to binding contract despite negotiations being subject to contract

HopgoodGanim Lawyers recently published an alert in relation to a decision of the Court of Appeal of Western Australia, which held that an email exchange between a tenant and a landlord's agent amounted to an immediately binding agreement to lease and a licence. The Supreme Court of Queensland also has recently considered an agreement arising in similar circumstances.

In the recent case of Stellard Pty Ltd & Anor v North Queensland Fuel Pty Ltd [2015] QSC 119, the Supreme Court of Queensland found that a chain of emails in the context at hand formed a binding contract for the sale of a roadhouse. It is a decision which has important commercial ramifications, particularly in the negotiation of a term sheet or heads of agreement, as the Court made this finding even though: