Chapel of Angels Pty Ltd v Hennessy Building Pty Ltd & Anor

Chapel of Angels Pty Ltd (Plaintiff) filed an action against Hennessy Building Pty Ltd and another defendant (Defendants) related to a building contract. The Plaintiff sought relief for alleged breaches of contract. The court considered various procedural applications, including whether to order further security for costs, to strike out certain parts of the Plaintiff's Further Amended Statement of Claim, and to grant leave for additional amendments to the Statement of Claim. Additionally, the Plaintiff sought to have certain threshold issues heard separately.

The court addressed several key legal issues. First, it considered whether the Plaintiff's undertaking by its shareholders to meet any costs order against the Plaintiff was sufficient to warrant further security for costs. Second, the court examined whether the amendments to the Statement of Claim were appropriate and whether they involved issues that were beyond the court's jurisdiction. Third, it assessed whether unsupported aspects of the Plaintiff's claim should be struck out and if it was appropriate to hear certain issues separately given the wide-ranging nature of the factual disputes.

The court ruled that the undertaking by the Plaintiff's shareholders was sufficient to ensure that any costs order would be met, thus declining to order further security for costs. It found that the amendments to the Statement of Claim were largely unnecessary and declined to grant leave for those amendments, except for specific paragraphs which were allowed. The court also dismissed the application to strike out unsupported aspects of the claim, noting that while the absence of documentary evidence was relevant to the credit of the claim, it did not warrant a strike out. Finally, the application to hear certain threshold issues separately was dismissed as it was not appropriate given the nature of the dispute.

The court ordered that the Plaintiff file an affidavit regarding specific allegations within 14 days. It dismissed the application to strike out certain paragraphs of the Further Amended Statement of Claim. The court also granted leave for specific amendments to the Statement of Claim but denied leave for other amendments. The application to sever threshold issues and have them heard separately was dismissed.