Meridian Oil Nl v Smyth

Meridian Oil NL was the plaintiff and Smyth was the defendant in a case before the Supreme Court of New South Wales. The plaintiff sought damages for breach of contract and for misleading and deceptive conduct. The defendant applied to strike out the plaintiff's statement of claim for want of prosecution. The court had to decide whether the plaintiff's delay in bringing the proceeding to trial was unreasonable and whether that delay had prejudiced the defendant to the extent that it was just to strike out the proceeding.

The court noted that there were no specific rules or precedents that could be applied to determine whether the delay was unreasonable. The application turned on its own facts and required a consideration of all the circumstances. The court found that the plaintiff had not acted with sufficient expedition and that the delay had caused some prejudice to the defendant. However, the court also found that the plaintiff had a good arguable case and that the prejudice to the defendant was not so serious as to warrant striking out the proceeding. The court dismissed the application.