Skelton v Foggo (No 2) [2022] NSWSC 1289

Supreme Court New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation: Skelton v Foggo (No 2) [2022] NSWSC 1289 Hearing dates: 31 August 2022 Date of orders: 27 September 2022 Decision date: 27 September 2022 Jurisdiction: Common Law Before: Dhanji J Decision: (1) Pursuant to r 14.28 of the Uniform Civil Procedure Rules 2005 (NSW), the plaintiff's statement of claim filed on 17 March 2021 is struck out as against the third defendant. (2) The notice of motion filed by the third defendant on 22 March 2022 is otherwise dismissed. (3) If the plaintiff seeks to amend the statement of claim, the plaintiff is to file and serve a notice of motion on or before 8 November 2022 accompanied by the proposed version of his pleading and any affidavit that may be appropriate in support of his notice of motion. (4) Leave is granted for any such motion to be returnable before the Court on 22 November 2022. (5) The plaintiff is to pay the third defendant's costs on the motion on the ordinary basis. (6) The proceedings are stood over for further directions before the Common Law Registrar at 9am on 22 November 2022. Catchwords: CIVIL PROCEDURE – summary dismissal – dismissal of proceedings – no reasonable cause of action – limitation period – whether claims statute barred – breach of fiduciary duty – not the clearest of cases – application dismissed CIVIL PROCEDURE – pleadings – striking out – no reasonable cause of action – tendency to cause prejudice, embarrassment or delay – lack of clarity – statement of claim struck out – leave to amend granted CIVIL PROCEDURE – application for stay of proceedings – abuse of process – discretion not exercised Legislation Cited: Civil Procedure Act 2005 (NSW), s 56 Limitation Act 1969 (NSW), ss 11(3), 14, 52 Uniform Civil Procedure Rules 2005 (NSW), rr 13.4, 14.28 Cases Cited: Agar v Hyde (2000) 201 CLR 552; [2000] HCA 41 Batistatos v Roads and Traffic Authority of New South Wales (2006) 226 CLR 256; [2006] HCA 27 Beach Petroleum NL v Kennedy (1999) 48 NSWLR 1; [1999] NSWCA 408 Binetter v Binetter [2022] NSWCA 169 Brimson v Rocla Concrete Pipes Ltd [1982] 2 NSWLR 937 Cassell v Skelton (1990) 11 MVR 133 Chan v Zacharia (1984) 154 CLR 178; [1984] HCA 36 Clarke v State of New South Wales (No.4) [2015] NSWSC 1054 Combe v Bank of Queensland [2011] NSWSC 1347 Dey v Victorian Railways Commissioners (1949) 78 CLR 62; [1949] HCA 1 Eastmark Holdings Pty Ltd v Kabraji (2012) 91 ACSR 32; [2012] NSWSC 802 General Steel Industries Inc v Commissioner for Railways (NSW) (1964) 112 CLR 125; [1964] HCA 69 Gerard Cassegrain & Co Pty Ltd v Cassegrain [2011] NSWSC 1156 Guthrie v Spence (2009) 78 NSWLR 225; [2009] NSWCA 369 Hospital Products Ltd v United States Surgical Corporation (1984) 156 CLR 41; [1984] HCA 64 Kingsley Corporation Pty Ltd v Australian and New Zealand Banking Group (No 2) (Supreme Court (NSW), 15 October 1997, unrep) Magman International Pty Ltd v Westpac Banking Corporation (1991) 32 FCR 1; [1991] FCA 41 Maguire v Makaronis (1997) 188 CLR 449; [1997] HCA 23 McDonald v Grech; Bank of Western Australia Ltd v McDonald [2012] NSWSC 717 McGuirk v The University of New South Wales [2009] NSWSC 1424 Motor Terms Co Pty Ltd v Liberty Insurance Ltd (in liq) (1967) 116 CLR 177; [1967] HCA 9 Shaw v State of New South Wales [2012] NSWCA 102 Skelton v Foggo [2021] NSWSC 1228 Spencer v The Commonwealth of Australia (2010) 241 CLR 118; [2010] HCA 28 Trevorrow v State of South Australia (No 5) (2007) 98 SASR 136; [2007] SASC 285 Wardley Australia Ltd v The State of Western Australia (1992) 175 CLR 514; [1992] HCA 55 Webster v Lampard (1993) 177 CLR 598; [1993] HCA 57 Wentworth v Rogers (No 5) (1986) 6 NSWLR 534 Williams v Spautz (1992) 174 CLR 509; [1992] HCA 34 Category: Procedural rulings Parties: Brett Skelton (Plaintiff) Robert Foggo (First Defendant) Alistair Henskens (Second Defendant) Michael Evers (Third Defendant) Carl Terpstra (Fourth Defendant) Nicholas Coren (Fifth Defendant) Robert Harris (Sixth Defendant) Representation: Counsel: Plaintiff (self-represented) G Ng (Third Defendant)