Mohareb v Kelso; Mohareb v Booth

In the matter of Mohareb v Kelso and Mohareb v Booth, the plaintiff sought damages for alleged assault and trespass to goods against two defendants. The proceedings were heard by the Supreme Court of New South Wales. The defendants applied for a stay of the proceedings on the basis that the plaintiff was the defendant in other proceedings under the Vexatious Proceedings Act 2008 (NSW) which were to be heard shortly. The plaintiff applied to amend the statement of claim and to join five new parties on the basis of negligence and/or vicarious liability for the defendant's acts, alleging they were his employers. The plaintiff also applied for one of the proceedings to be heard before the other. The court was required to decide whether the defendants' acts related to their employment, whether the claims were sufficiently pleaded, and whether the applications should be granted.

The court dismissed the applications for a stay of proceedings, finding that the plaintiff's vexatious proceedings were not sufficiently similar to the present proceedings to warrant a stay. The court also dismissed the application to join additional parties and amend the statement of claim, finding that the claims were not adequately pleaded. The court found that the plaintiff had not demonstrated that the defendants' acts were related to their employment, and that the claims against the additional parties were not sufficiently pleaded. The application for one of the proceedings to be heard before the other was also dismissed. The court found that the applications were an abuse of process and that the plaintiff had not shown sufficient grounds to warrant the transfer of the proceedings to the General List.

The court ordered that the notice of motion filed by the defendants for a stay of proceedings be dismissed, with no order as to costs. The plaintiff's application to add the named persons as second to sixth defendants and to amend the statement of claim were also dismissed. The plaintiff's application for proceedings 2015/359339 to be heard before proceedings 2015/201139 was dismissed. The plaintiff's application for access to documents from the NSW Police and Mr van Mierlo was dismissed due to objections recorded by the Registrar. The plaintiff was ordered to pay the defendants' costs in each of the proceedings, save for the defendants' application for a stay, with liberty to apply. The proceedings were stood over for further directions to the Defamation List on 20 October 2016, on which date the parties should show cause as to why proceedings 2015/359339 and 2015/201139 should not be transferred to the General List.