McDonald v The State of South Australia

In McDonald v The State of South Australia, the applicants sought summary dismissal or a strike out of their claim against the State of South Australia. The applicants had previously been employed as teachers and had a long-standing legal dispute with the State over their employment. The Court was required to determine whether the applicants' claim was vexatious, an abuse of process, or if there was no reasonable cause of action capable of being disclosed. The Court held that the applicants' claim was vexatious and an abuse of process, and that there was no reasonable cause of action capable of being disclosed. The Court dismissed the applicants' claim and struck out their interlocutory applications. The Court also amended the name and identity of the first respondent to the State of South Australia. The Court's decision was based on the extensive statutory regulation of the applicants' employment contracts, which provided a process for addressing their grievances, rendering the implication of an implied term of mutual trust and confidence unnecessary. The Court also found that any breach of the implied contractual duty of care was not repudiatory because the issues of the applicants' roles at the schools, their workloads, and harassment by other staff had been resolved well before the applicants terminated their employment. The Court further considered that the conclusion that the applicants had been bullied and victimised by DECS employees was not supported by the evidence and could not amount to a breach of the employment contract.