After Tabcorp, for Whom Does the Bellgrove Toll? Cementing the Expectation Measure as the 'Ruling Principle' for Calculation of Contract Damages

Abstract

The High Court case of Tabcorp v Bowen Investments offers an opportunity to reassess the body of law which has grown around the calculation of contractual damages for defective building work. This article undertakes such an analysis, placing Tabcorp within the dual contexts of defective work damages specifically (in particular, the Court’s confirmation that Bellgrove v Eldridge provides the applicable test) and the broader debate in contract law as to which interest is primarily to be afforded protection through damages. In respect of the latter, it is submitted that the Court’s vigorous restatement of the primacy of Parke B’s ‘ruling principle’, based upon the expectation interest, may be expected to have resonance well beyond the sphere of defective building.

Keywords: High Court, Tabcorp, contract law, defective building work

JEL Classification: K00, K12, K39