Mr Lougher & Kidman Resources v. Ors, page-172

Personally, I'm not putting a great deal of weight on what might just be an administrative update by the clerks at the WA supreme court. Quite separate from the interests of parties courts are protective of their own time and resources - they don't like to waste their resources. Mediations save court time so busy judges would like them.

I agree with Charlie and Freehold's recent comments. An agreement doesn't have to happen on any particular date it can happen anytime beforehand (even whilst court case is in train) if both parties decide they want that.

I am not a lawyer. But I understand specific performance (mandamus) is very hard to get in contractual disputes and that courts would almost always prefer to award money as damages for any breaches of contract if there are any. I'm not sure how a court would quantify financial damage in a situation like this.

To me the argument about whether there was a binding contract formed would entail things like - was there an intention to form legal relations (had they gotten that far yet?), did the parties have reason to believe who they were talking with had the authority within the companies to act as agents to bind their respective companies.

I repeat I'm not a lawyer.