New Aim Pty Ltd v Leung [2023] FCAFC 67

Federal Court of Australia

New Aim Pty Ltd v Leung [2023] FCAFC 67 Appeal from: New Aim Pty Ltd v Leung [2022] FCA 722

File number: VID 409 of 2022

Judgment of: KENNY, MOSHINSKY, BANKS-SMITH, THAWLEY AND CHEESEMAN JJ

Date of judgment: 10 May 2023

Catchwords: EQUITY – confidential information – where the appellant conducted online retail business and sourced products from China – where the first respondent was employee of appellant until resignation – where the first respondent kept contact details of certain persons in the WeChat application on his mobile phone – where the first respondent disclosed some of those contact details to the second respondent – where the primary judge found that the alleged confidential information was not confidential, having regard to a range of relevant factors – whether the primary judge erred by drawing a distinction between information on the appellant's database and information in the first respondent's WeChat application EVIDENCE – expert evidence – where primary judge rejected the entirety of the evidence of expert witness on the basis of the involvement of the applicant's lawyers in the preparation of the report – where the primary judge stated that he was uncertain as to who drafted different parts of the report – where the primary judge considered that the conduct engaged in in preparing and delivering the expert's report was misleading – whether primary judge erred in his factual findings concerning the preparation of the expert's report – whether the primary judge erred in rejecting the entirety of the evidence of the expert witness