B&K Holdings (Qld) Pty Ltd v Garmin Australasia Pty Ltd

In the Federal Court of Australia, B&K Holdings (Qld) Pty Ltd (B&K) sought to sue Garmin Australasia Pty Ltd (Garmin) for allegedly engaging in anti-competitive conduct. B&K alleged that Garmin had reduced prices of its products below variable and avoidable costs, thereby abusing its substantial market power in contravention of section 46 of the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (Cth). Garmin, in turn, sought summary judgment dismissing the proceeding, as well as an order prohibiting B&K from amending its Statement of Claim. The court was required to decide whether Garmin's application for summary judgment should be granted and whether B&K should be permitted to amend its Statement of Claim.

The court examined the principles governing summary judgment applications, emphasising that the inquiry is whether there is a 'reasonable' prospect of prosecuting the proceeding, not whether a certain and concluded determination could be made that the proceeding would necessarily fail. The court also noted that the mere existence of a factual dispute is not necessarily a bar to the grant of summary judgment, but rather the court is required to evaluate the quality and weight of the evidence. The court found that Garmin's application for summary judgment should be dismissed because it was not satisfied that B&K had no reasonable prospect of successfully prosecuting the proceeding. The court further found that B&K should be granted leave to amend its Statement of Claim as the applications for summary judgment and amendment were intimately entwined.

The court dismissed Garmin's application for summary judgment and granted B&K leave to amend its Statement of Claim in accordance with Annexure A to its interlocutory application filed on 11 September 2018. The court emphasised that the decision should not be taken as a finding on the merits of the case, but rather a decision on the appropriate procedural course of action.