Agriwealth Pty Ltd v Gordon

Agriwealth Pty Ltd, as plaintiff, sought to join a third party and amend its statement of claim to include a claim against that third party in the proceeding it had brought against Gordon. The plaintiff argued that if it were to be unsuccessful in its claim against Gordon, it would be entitled to succeed against the proposed third party. The plaintiff also argued that it only became aware of the alternative claim by reason of assertions made in a recent affidavit of Gordon. The plaintiff sought orders for joinder of the third party and for leave to amend its statement of claim. The court was required to decide whether there was sufficient factual overlap between the claim against Gordon in the statement of claim and the proposed claim against the third party to justify the making of the orders sought so that the two claims could be heard in the one proceeding. The court also needed to consider whether the current lack of specificity in the identification of the factual overlap between the two claims precluded the orders sought being made at that time. The court considered that there was no issue of principle but invited the plaintiff to provide further and better particulars or evidence to make good its assertion that the degree of factual overlap between the two claims warranted them being determined in the one proceeding. The court held that the orders sought could not be made at that time, but it invited the plaintiff to provide further information to enable the court to make the orders.