Farmers Fruit Box & Plastics Pty Ltd v Select Carbon Pty Ltd [2021] NSWSC 563

Supreme Court New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation: Farmers Fruit Box & Plastics Pty Ltd v Select Carbon Pty Ltd [2021] NSWSC 563 Hearing dates: 26, 27 April; 3, 17 May 2021 Date of orders: 20 May 2021 Decision date: 20 May 2021 Jurisdiction: Equity Before: Parker J Decision: See [115]-[116] Catchwords: CIVIL PROCEDURE – plaintiff company without legal representation – director of the plaintiff company sought leave to represent it in the proceedings – leave refused and further proceedings stayed until plaintiff legally represented COURTS AND JUDGES – apprehended bias – strike-out and summary judgment application – where judge had made previous decision to summarily dismiss previous separate proceedings in which director's de facto wife was the plaintiff – application for recusal refused CIVIL PROCEDURE – interlocutory applications – claims in tort for contamination of business premises – claims purportedly assigned to new trustee – statement of claim did not plead material facts – summary dismissal refused – statement of claim struck out with liberty to apply to re-plead – plaintiff ordered to pay a lump sum on account of costs of application Legislation Cited: Civil Procedure Act 2005 (NSW), s 56 Legal Profession Uniform Law Application Act 2014 (NSW), sch 2 – cl 4 Uniform Civil Procedure Rules 2005 (NSW), r 7.1 Cases Cited: Kanda v Government of Malaya [1962] AC 322 Nguyen v Grancroft Pty Ltd [2020] NSWSC 1644 Rajski v Scitec Corporation Pty Ltd [1986] NSWCA 1 Re JRL; Ex parte CJL (1986) 161 CLR 342 Rhino Rack Australia Pty Ltd v Hub Computing Services Pty Ltd [2021] NSWSC 231 Tanamerah Estates Pty Ltd v Tibra Capital Pty Ltd [2013] NSWSC 36 Texts Cited: Heydon, J D, M J Leeming and P G Turner, Meagher, Gummow and Lehane's Equity Doctrines and Remedies (5th ed, 2015, LexisNexis Butterworths) Category: Procedural rulings Parties: Motion filed 11 October 2019/Amended Motion filed 10 June 2020 Select Carbon Pty Ltd (First Applicant/First Defendant) Select Carbon Bio Char Pty Ltd (Second Applicant/Second Defendant) Farmers Fruit Box & Plastics Pty Ltd (First Respondent/Plaintiff) Daraleigh Pty Ltd (Second Respondent/Third Defendant)