Courtney v Pinnacle Media Group Ltd

In the case of Courtney v Pinnacle Media Group Ltd, the plaintiff, Courtney, sought to join two additional defendants to a defamation proceeding already involving seven defendants. The additional defendants resided in the Cayman Islands and had not been served with the application to join them. The plaintiff's application to waive the requirement to serve the additional defendants was central to the dispute. The court had to determine whether the proposed new defendants should be joined to the proceeding and if the requirement to serve them should be waived.

The legal issues before the court included whether the plaintiff had adequately demonstrated an arguable case sufficient to resist summary judgment and whether the deficiencies in the plaintiff's pleading warranted refusal of the application to join the new defendants. Additionally, the court needed to assess if there were sufficient grounds to waive the requirement to serve the proposed new defendants under the relevant procedural rules.

The court concluded that had the proposed new defendants been served, they would have had the opportunity to consider the application, obtain professional advice, and make submissions. The court found that there was no compelling reason to deny the proposed new defendants the opportunity afforded by the procedural rules. While the plaintiff's proposed cause of action was not deemed to be manifestly groundless, the deficiencies in the pleading and the absence of a contradictor led the court to refrain from concluding that the plaintiff had demonstrated the existence of an arguable case.

The court refused the application to waive the requirement to serve the proposed eighth and ninth defendants, finding that they should be given the opportunity to respond to the application. The balance of the application was adjourned to a date to be fixed.

ORDERS:
1. The application to waive the requirement in rule 70 to serve the proposed eighth and ninth defendants is refused.
2. The balance of the application filed 27 February 2020 is adjourned to a date to be fixed.