The agreed terms concerning further security
33 Clauses 14, 15, 16 and 17 of the June Response dealt with the amount for which the Commissioner required security to be provided. The paragraphs explained the steps by which an amount of $12,035,454.33 was calculated. It comprised the outstanding amount of $5,850,000 to be provided under cl 3.6(k) of the Caratti Deed, plus additional GIC amounts due by each of Mr Caratti and Ms Bazzo. The resultant total was $12,035,454.33.
34 Then in cl 17.2 the June Response stated:
the reference to $5.85 million in paragraph 25 of the 29 May 2018 Draft Orders becomes $12,035,454.33.
35 The GIC amounts that were added by the terms of the June Response as amounts for which security was to be provided were not amounts payable under the Caratti Deed.
36 As to the provision of security, the June Response stated that the security will be subject to the 'same conditions' detailed in cl 25 and cl 26 of the May Proposal. Those paragraphs contemplated two steps. The first step was the provision within 30 days of a mortgage 'in registrable form' over additional property. The second step was the provision by Mr Caratti within 60 days of a current market valuation, at his cost.
37 The applicants submitted that this structure, proposed by them, gave rise to a 'chicken and egg problem'. It was said that until the valuation was undertaken it would not be known whether the unencumbered equity in the additional property the subject of the mortgage had the requisite value. They pointed to the terms of an email dated 15 May 2018 (sent before the May Proposal) in which they made the following comments on an earlier proposal from the Commissioner:
Further to the email below it has come to our attention that the process contemplated in paragraphs 2.11 to 2.12 of the letter to Birman and Ride dated 4 May 2018 will need to be amended to make it more practicable. A difficulty would have been providing security before knowing what valuation was subscribed to the proposed property. It is instead proposed to advise which property or properties are contemplated within the 30 day period and to provide mortgages, to be held in escrow at that time, and within the 55 day period (or such short additional period that your listed valuers require to finalise the valuations) to take out of escrow such mortgages as are necessary to give the $5.85million security.
38 It was submitted for the applicants that the terms of the May Proposal must be read in the context of the matters raised in the email of 15 May 2018. It was said that the terms proposed must be understood to allow until after the valuation had been provided for the obligation to provide the mortgage over additional property to be performed. This, it was submitted, was necessary to deal with 'the chicken and egg problem'.
39 It was also submitted for the applicants that the terms of cl 3.6(k) in the Caratti Deed were consistent with such a mechanism because they allowed for the provision of additional security after a valuation process in respect of the original security had been undertaken. Therefore, cl 3.6(k) allowed, in effect, for a top-up in security.
40 There are a number of difficulties with the claim that the matters raised in the 15 May 2018 email or what was described as the 'chicken and egg problem' should bear upon the construction of the relevant terms of the agreement.
41 First, the parties were resolving, amongst other things, the dispute concerning the interpretation of cl 3.6(k) of the Caratti Deed that had been determined by Robertson J with the result that there was an obligation to provide a mortgage over additional property with an unencumbered equity of $5,850,000. There was no agreed procedure in the Caratti Deed for a further valuation to measure the value of that top-up security. It either met the required obligation or it did not. Nor was there any agreed step whereby further security might be provided to cover a shortfall exposed by a valuation undertaken after the top-up security had been provided. Importantly, the introduction by the terms of settlement being considered in May and June 2018 of a further valuation and a subsequent top-up would invite a further dispute of the kind determined by Robertson J. It was a dispute as to whether the additional security had the requisite value that was determined by Robertson J and was part of the matters being resolved by the agreement. In that context, it is commercially unlikely that the parties would agree a mechanism that could result in a replay of aspects of that dispute.
42 Second, despite the applicants having identified the issue, no words were included in their May Proposal to allow for the provision of additional security after the valuation to be undertaken within 60 days. The words in the May Proposal were advanced on behalf of Ms Bazzo, Mr Caratti and the companies related to them. They chose not to deal explicitly with any deferment of the obligation to provide security until after the valuation had been obtained.
43 Third, on proper analysis there is no inherent 'chicken and egg problem'. The parties may agree that a mortgage over additional property must be provided by a specified date with the requisite level of unencumbered equity without deferring compliance until the level of the unencumbered value had been assessed by an independent valuer. If there was a dispute as to whether any mortgage that was provided was in respect of the requisite level of unencumbered equity then there may be a need to resort to valuations to resolve the dispute. However, in that event, it would be a matter for the party providing the mortgage (and performing the obligation) to ensure that the mortgage was over a property in which the requisite level of unencumbered equity could be demonstrated, if required. It may be prudent for the party receiving the benefit of the agreed mortgage to provide for a valuation to be provided at the cost of the party providing the mortgage as a means to verify compliance. However, the obligation to provide a mortgage over property in which the mortgagor had the requisite level of equity could be performed without a formal valuation being obtained.
44 Fourth, the terms of cl 26 of the May Proposal diverge from the terms of cl 3.6(k) of the Caratti Deed by proposing the addition of an obligation to provide a subsequent valuation (some 30 days after the provision of the mortgage over additional property). Indeed, the terms of the June Response address with some particularity the conditions to apply to the provision of the additional security in the form of the mortgage. In addition to the conditions proposed in the May Proposal, they add terms as to how the unencumbered equity is to be valued (cl 18.2 and cl 18.3). An implied obligation that would defer performance of any obligation to provide the security until after the valuation had been obtained (or that would allow top-up security after that point) would be contrary to the express terms as to when the mortgage was to be provided.
45 It is also necessary to have regard to the sequence of offer and counter-offer followed by acceptance. Aspects of the May Proposal are altered by the June Response. The sequence was as follows.
46 There was an offer by the May Proposal to provide within 30 days a mortgage in registrable form having unencumbered equity of at least $5,850,000 which was to be provided in the manner required by the Caratti Deed. It is convenient to set out again the terms proposed as to provision of security:
25. Within 30 days of the agreement reached by the parties in accordance with this letter, Mr Caratti provides a mortgage in registrable form over additional property having unencumbered equity of at least $5,850,000, in accordance with the Deed the subject of the Security Proceedings.
26. Within 60 days of the agreement reached by the parties in accordance with this letter, Mr Caratti provides at his cost a current market valuation of the additional property the subject of paragraph 6, that valuation to be provided by one of the following 3 organisations - CBRE Property Valuers, Colliers International or Opteon Property Group.
47 The words 'in accordance with the Deed the subject of the Security Proceedings' in cl 25 were a way of describing the obligation to be performed under cl 3.6(k) of the Caratti Deed. It stated:
In the event that a valuation procured by the Commissioner (whether by the Taxpayer's preferred valuer or, in the event that the Taxpayer has forfeited his right to nominate a valuer, by a valuer selected by the Commissioner) indicates that the valuation of the Property is less than the valuation provided by the Taxpayer or Guarantor, the Taxpayer shall, within 30 days of a written demand from the Commissioner, provide a mortgage over additional property which has unencumbered equity of at least half the difference between the Commissioner's valuation and the valuation provided by the Taxpayer or Guarantor.
48 So, cl 3.6(k) required a 'mortgage' to be provided with unencumbered equity of a specified amount (being terminology that had been construed by Robertson J in making his decision). It required the security to be provided within 30 days of a written demand, but that did not apply because the express words in the May Proposal were that it would be provided within 30 days of agreement. The term 'mortgage' was not defined in cl 3.6(k). Again the May Proposal dealt with that point by requiring 'a mortgage in registrable form'. Therefore, in context, the only matter to which the words 'in accordance with the Deed the subject of the Security Proceedings' was directed was the requirement for the mortgage to be 'over additional property having unencumbered equity' in the specified amount. A reading to that effect is also consistent with the ordinary grammatical structure of cl 25 whereby the words at the end of the paragraph qualify the immediately preceding words, 'additional property having unencumbered equity'.
49 In addition the May Proposal provided separately for the provision of a valuation of the additional property at Mr Caratti's cost within 60 days. I note that cl 26 of the May Proposal refers to 'paragraph 6', but that is plainly a reference to cl 25 (which was formerly numbered paragraph 6 in the earlier proposal).
50 So, the May Proposal was for the provision of the mortgage in 30 days with the requisite level of unencumbered equity followed by a valuation to demonstrate compliance.
51 Finally, by the May Proposal it was only after the matters stated in cl 25 and cl 26 were performed was there to be a forbearance (see the terms of cl 27). There was a separate and independent obligation to pay the costs of the proceedings before Robertson J (cl 28). So, the terms proposed by the applicants in the May Proposal conditioned any agreement by the Commissioner as to forbearance upon the provision of the security and the valuation. This reinforces a construction whereby the purpose of the valuation was to verify that the security was adequate and only then was the forbearance to take effect.
52 The June Response increased the amount of security to be provided, but maintained the 'same conditions' as had been stated in cl 25 and cl 26 of the May Proposal that required the mortgage in registrable form within 30 days and valuation within 60 days: see cl 14 to cl 18 of the May Proposal. Importantly, the June Response gave greater detail as to how the 'unencumbered equity' was to be determined, thereby specifying matters in addition to those stated in cl 3.6(k) of the Caratti Deed (as construed by Robertson J). In doing so, it dealt specifically with that matter. The result was that the words 'in accordance with the Deed the subject of the Security Proceedings' no longer applied to what was meant by unencumbered equity. They applied only to what was meant by 'additional property'.
53 The June Response then specified precisely the nature of the forbearance that would be extended if sufficient security was provided.
54 The result was that the words 'in accordance with the Deed the subject of the Security Proceedings' applied only to incorporate the requirement that the mortgage had to be 'over additional property' in cl 3.6(k) of the Caratti Deed.