Giffin v Telstra Corporation Limited

In the Supreme Court of Queensland, Giffin v Telstra Corporation Limited involved a dispute between the plaintiff, who operated a business as a sole trader, and the defendant, Telstra Corporation Limited. The plaintiff alleged that Telstra failed to properly record changes in his business's contact details, resulting in a loss of business due to clients being unable to contact him. The plaintiff's initial claim and statement of claim were found to be defective, leading the defendant to apply to have the claim set aside or struck out. The court was tasked with determining whether the plaintiff's claims were so deficient that they warranted setting aside or striking out the pleadings, and if the plaintiff's amended statement of claim improved upon the original.

The court examined the procedural issues concerning the defectiveness of the plaintiff's original and amended statements of claim. It assessed whether the initial claim was so lacking in substance that it should be set aside, and if the amended statement of claim, despite being a last opportunity for the plaintiff to properly plead his case, still failed to disclose a reasonable cause of action. The court also considered whether the amended statement of claim was embarrassing, caused unnecessary delay, or constituted an abuse of the court process.

The court found that the plaintiff's initial claim was indeed defective and set it aside. When the plaintiff filed an amended statement of claim, the court found that it did not sufficiently improve upon the original pleadings. The amended statement of claim still failed to disclose a reasonable cause of action, and was deemed to be embarrassing and likely to cause delay in the proceedings. Therefore, the court struck out the amended statement of claim in its entirety. The court ordered that unless the plaintiff provided written submissions within seven days as to why the defendant’s application should not succeed, the plaintiff would be liable for the defendant’s costs.