Manny v Commonwealth of Australia (No 2)

In the Federal Court of Australia, the applicant, Manny, sought to bring claims against the Commonwealth of Australia. The nature of the dispute involved allegations that were previously litigated and determined, with claims now sought against non-parties. The Commonwealth filed an application to strike out and dismiss the proceedings on the grounds that they constituted an abuse of process and failed to disclose a reasonable cause of action. The court was tasked with determining whether the applicant's claims were an abuse of the court process and whether the claims disclosed any reasonable cause of action.

The central legal issue was whether the applicant's claims amounted to an abuse of the court process and if they disclosed any reasonable cause of action. The court had to consider whether the proceedings were an attempt to re-litigate claims that had already been determined and whether the allegations against non-parties could be pursued in the current context. Additionally, the court needed to assess if any arguable claim was otherwise discernible from the applicant's submissions.

The court found that the proceedings were indeed an abuse of process as they sought to re-litigate previously determined claims and involved allegations against non-parties. The court concluded that no arguable claim could be discerned from the applicant's submissions. Consequently, the court determined that the proceedings did not disclose a reasonable cause of action and ordered their summary dismissal. The court dismissed the proceedings in their entirety.