ESTOPPEL AND UNCONSCIONABLE CONDUCT

Blue Haven Enterprises Ltd v Tully [2006] UKPC 17, 21 February 2006

In Blue Haven Enterprises Ltd v Tully [2006] UKPC 17, 21 February 2006, the Privy Council held that the appellant was not entitled to succeed in its claim based on estoppel (by acquiescence) because it could not show that the respondent had acted unconscionably. The Privy Council affirmed that unconscionable conduct is a necessary ingredient of such a claim and held that the respondent, who had informed the appellant of his interest in the land which the appellant was developing, had not acted unconscionably. The appellant had decided to ignore the information given to it by the respondent and, having done so, it was not then entitled to assert that the respondent had acted unconscionably on the basis that he had failed to re-assert his claim to the land in question.