The assessment of damages under the Australian Consumer Law for misleading or deceptive conduct or breach of consumer guarantees often involves comparing the price paid for an asset or good and the value of the thing purchased. The purchase of a business by reason of misleading conduct as to its earnings or worth is an example. When assessing loss, comparison is ordinarily made between the purchase price and the “true value”, rather than “market value”. The two may differ significantly.
The purpose of this note is to identify the differences between “market value” and “true value”, how each may be assessed and the circumstances in which they might be applied. While “true value” is generally applied for the assessment of loss under the ACL, it is “market value” that is relevant in the valuation of land for rating and tax purposes, and to compensation for the compulsory acquisition of land.
Read Roger Traves KC‘s article here.
The article was also published on Proctor which can be found here.
