Avsar v Westland Healthcare Limited

Avsar and others sought leave to add new plaintiffs to their proceedings and amend their statement of claim to include claims by those new plaintiffs. The original proceedings related to alleged breaches of the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 by the defendants in relation to the sale of aged care facilities. The defendants opposed the applications. The court considered the appropriate exercise of its discretion in relation to the applications, including the extent to which the proposed amendments would cause prejudice to the defendants, and the extent to which they were an expansion of the existing cause of action.

The court noted that the proposed amendments to the statement of claim would not cause significant prejudice to the defendants, as the matters raised were not significantly different from those raised in the existing statement of claim. The court also found that the proposed amendments did not expand the existing cause of action, but rather sought to include new plaintiffs who had suffered the same harm as the existing plaintiffs. The court found that it was appropriate to exercise its discretion to allow the applications.

The court granted leave for the plaintiffs to add new plaintiffs and to amend their statement of claim to include claims by those new plaintiffs. The court noted that the defendants were required to respond to the amended statement of claim within 14 days. The court did not make any orders in relation to the application to join additional defendants, as the plaintiffs did not pursue that application. The court also did not make any orders in relation to the application to strike out the statement of claim, as it found that the statement of claim disclosed a cause of action.