Sutherland v GHR Accounting (No 3) [2017] NSWSC 373

Supreme Court New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation: Sutherland v GHR Accounting (No 3) [2017] NSWSC 373 Hearing dates: 31 March 2017 Decision date: 07 April 2017 Jurisdiction: Common Law Before: Button J Decision: (1) The Further Amended Statement of Claim of the plaintiff that became Exhibit 1 on 31 March 2017 is struck out. (2) The plaintiff must file and serve any further statement of claim upon which he relies by 5 May 2017. (3) Any such statement of claim must be verified on oath by the plaintiff, in accordance with rule 14.24 of the Uniform Civil Procedure Rules 2005 (NSW). (4) The matter is listed before the Common Law Registrar at 9 am on 10 May 2017. (5) The plaintiff must pay the costs of the proceedings before me. Catchwords: PROCEDURE – civil – application for summary dismissal – whether failure to prosecute with due despatch – whether claim doomed to failure

PROCEDURE – civil – application of defendant to strike out statement of claim of plaintiff – whether no reasonable cause of action disclosed

DAMAGES – reflective loss – diminution in value of shares – whether prohibition on recovery – whether separate and distinct from company's loss – whether personal loss suffered by plaintiff Legislation Cited: Uniform Civil Procedure Rules 2005 (NSW), rr 12.7(1), 13.4(1)(b), 14.24 Cases Cited: Christensen v Scott [1996] 1 NZLR 273 Ekes v Commonwealth Bank of Australia [2014] NSWCA 336 Foss v Harbottle (1843) 67 ER 189 Gould v Vaggelas (1985) 157 CLR 215; [1985] HCA 75 Johnson v Gore Wood & Co [2002] 2 AC 1 Prudential Assurance Co Ltd v Newman Industries Ltd (No 2) [1982] Ch 204 Sutherland v GHR Accounting and Anor [2015] NSWSC 1946 Sutherland v GHR Accounting [2017] NSWSC 100 Category: Procedural and other rulings Parties: Richard Craig Sutherland (Plaintiff) GHR Accounting (Defendant) Representation: Counsel: C J Peadon (Defendant)