Monier Roofing Ltd v Krieg, A.K

In the Federal Court of Australia, Monier Roofing Limited and Monier Management Pty Limited brought an action against Andrew Kerr Krieg and Acacia Roofing Tiles Pty Limited. The applicants sought an order to amend their statement of claim and for inspection of certain machines used by the respondents. The applicants alleged that Krieg, a former employee, had used confidential information and drawings to aid the respondents in their tile-making processes. The respondents opposed the amendment and inspection, arguing that the information was not confidential and the machines were irrelevant to the applicants' claims.

The court considered the principles of allowing amendments to pleadings and found that such amendments should be freely granted to ensure all issues between the parties are determined and to avoid multiplicity of proceedings. The court noted that in rare cases, amendments may not be allowed if the claim is obviously futile. However, the court should not conduct a mini-trial on the merits of the case during an interlocutory application for leave to amend. Here, the applicants did not concede the truth of Krieg's evidence, and the proper time to agitate the facts was at trial. The court also found that the existence of an expired patent and the purchase of a machine from a third party did not necessarily undermine the applicants' claims.

The court allowed the applicants to amend their statement of claim and ordered the inspection of the specified machines, subject to confidentiality undertakings. The court certified that the reasons for judgment were a true copy and ordered that the costs of the proceedings be borne by the applicants.