Ellis v Grill'd Pty Ltd

In *Ellis v Grill'd Pty Ltd*, the applicant, Ms Ellis, alleged disability discrimination against the respondent, Grill'd Pty Ltd, concerning access to the respondent's premises. Grill'd Pty Ltd applied to the Federal Court of Australia for summary dismissal of Ms Ellis's application, arguing it had no reasonable prospect of success and seeking dismissal under the Court's inherent jurisdiction due to alleged non-compliance with earlier court orders.

The Court was required to determine whether Ms Ellis's application had no reasonable prospect of success, thereby justifying summary dismissal. Additionally, the Court considered whether it possessed the inherent jurisdiction to dismiss the proceedings, and if so, whether the alleged non-compliance with prior court orders warranted such a dismissal.

Judge Lucev applied the test for summary dismissal, which requires a high degree of certainty that the claim is bound to fail. The Court found that the evidence did not establish that Ms Ellis's claim was manifestly untenable or that there was no real prospect of success. Consequently, the application for summary dismissal on the basis of no reasonable prospect of success was refused. The Court also found that the threshold for exercising its inherent jurisdiction to dismiss the proceedings for non-compliance with earlier orders had not been met.

The applications for summary dismissal and dismissal for non-compliance were dismissed.