Bloomfield v Grainger

This matter came before Judge Cassidy of the Federal Circuit Court of Australia concerning an application to strike out parts of a statement of claim and relief sought. The applicant sought to have certain paragraphs of the statement of claim and a specific item of relief dismissed.

The central legal issue before the Court was whether the applicant had demonstrated that the respondent had no reasonable prospect of successfully defending the proceeding or that part of the proceeding, as contemplated by section 17A of the *Federal Circuit Court of Australia Act 1999* (Cth). This involved considering the threshold for summary judgment, which requires a high degree of certainty about the ultimate outcome of the proceeding if it were allowed to go to trial.

Judge Cassidy applied the principles established in cases concerning summary judgment, noting that the approach taken under section 17A of the *Federal Circuit Court of Australia Act 1999* is generally apposite to that under section 31A of the *Federal Court of Australia Act 1976*. The Court referred to the High Court's pronouncements in *Spencer v Commonwealth of Australia* and *Fancourt v Mercantile Credits Ltd*, emphasizing that the power to order summary judgment should be exercised with great care and only when it is clear that there is no real question to be tried. The Court must make a practical judgment as to whether the applicant has more than a "fanciful" prospect of success.

The Court ordered that specific paragraphs of the statement of claim and a portion of the relief sought be struck out. The remainder of the application was dismissed. Directions were given for the filing of written submissions regarding costs, with a further hearing scheduled for the judgment of the costs application. The matter was also noted for potential transfer to the Family Court of Australia.