Qualify Me Pty Ltd v Get Qualified Australia Pty Ltd

The case of Qualify Me Pty Ltd v Get Qualified Australia Pty Ltd involved an application by Get Qualified Australia Pty Ltd (GQA) and Mr Wadi to strike out certain paragraphs of a further amended statement of claim (FASOC) filed by Qualify Me Pty Ltd. The dispute primarily centred around allegations of misleading or deceptive conduct by GQA, including actions taken through blogs and Facebook. The Federal Court of Australia was tasked with deciding whether the pleadings disclosed a reasonable cause of action and if there was a reasonable prospect of success.

The court examined the principles governing the exercise of the power under section 31A of the Federal Court of Australia Act, focusing on whether the pleadings sufficiently identified material facts from which reasonable inferences could be drawn. The court needed to assess the strength of the allegations by reference to the pleadings, affidavits, and any other evidence. It had to determine whether there were real, as opposed to fanciful, issues of fact or law that required proper determination at a trial. In assessing whether there were reasonable prospects of success, the court drew all reasonable inferences in favour of the non-moving party.

The court found that while some of the evidence relied upon by Qualify Me departed from the pleadings or ought to have been particularised earlier, this did not constitute a proper basis to strike out the proceedings. However, the court held that certain paragraphs of the FASOC did not disclose a reasonable cause of action or have reasonable prospects of success. Consequently, the court ordered the striking out of paragraphs 3A to 17 of the FASOC, granted leave to Qualify Me to file a second further amended statement of claim repleading the causes of action in those paragraphs, and directed that the second further amended statement of claim be filed and served within three weeks of the date of the judgment. The matter was relisted for directions on 31 March 2016.