AAA v BBB

The plaintiff sought to bring a claim for professional negligence against a medical practitioner who was said to have provided marital counselling to the plaintiff's former wife. The plaintiff contended that the defendant's conduct, including the commencement of a sexual relationship with his wife, led to the breakdown of their marriage and caused the plaintiff loss. The plaintiff sought to rely upon the defendant's breach of a duty of care allegedly arising as a matter of law. The defendants sought to strike out the plaintiff's statement of claim as disclosing no reasonable cause of action and also opposed the plaintiff's application for leave to amend the statement of claim. The plaintiff's application for leave to amend in terms of the substituted minute of claim was dismissed. It was concluded that the facts and matters pleaded did not disclose a reasonable cause of action against the defendants. The plaintiff's claim for emotional distress was found to be unsupported by the circumstances of the case. The Court considered that the plaintiff's application for leave to amend should not be granted because it would not succeed. Accordingly, the defendants were to be allowed to recover costs of and incidental to the application for leave to amend and certain related costs. The Court was not satisfied that an order for indemnity costs should be made.