REED & REED

Case

[2016] FCCA 1338

3 June 2016


FEDERAL CIRCUIT COURT OF AUSTRALIA

REED & REED [2016] FCCA 1338

Catchwords:
FAMILY LAW – Family Law Act 1975 – Property settlement – Binding financial agreements – Setting aside the binding financial agreement pursuant to Section 90K of the Family Law Act 1975.

CONSUMER PROTECTION – Australian consumer law and fair trading – Fair Trading Act (Vic) 1999 and Trade Practices Act (Cth) 1974 – misleading and deceptive conduct.

JURISDICTION – Accrued jurisdiction – Setting aside binding financial agreement – Application to join law firm and solicitors with claims pursuant to Fair Trading Act (Vic) 1999 and Trade Practices Act (Cth) 1974 – Joinder application granted.

Legislation:

Family Law Act 1975, ss.79, 90G(1)(b) , 90B, 90K

Trade Practices Act (Cth) 1974 (now the Competition and Consumer Act 2010)
Fair Trading Act (Vic) 1999

Cases cited:
Fencott v Muller [1983] HCA 12; (1983) 152 CLR 570
Re Wakim [1999] HCA 27; 198 CLR 511; 163 ALR 270; 73 ALJR 839
Noll & Noll and Anor [2013] FamCAFC 24; (2013) 48 Fam LR 635
F Firm & Ruane and Ors [2014] FamCAFC 189
Commonwealth vVerwayen (1990) 170 CLR 394
WardleyAustralia Ltd v Western Australia [1992] HCA 55; (1992) 175 CLR Thom v Davey Burton [2008] NZSC 65
Port of Melbourne Authority v Anshun Pty Ltd [1981] HCA 45; (1981) 147 CLR 589
Applicant: MR REED
Respondent: MS REED
File Number: MLC 11306 of 2014
Judgment of: Judge Riethmuller
Hearing date: 4 April 2016
Date of Last Submission: 23 May 2016
Delivered at: Melbourne
Delivered on: 3 June 2016

REPRESENTATION

Counsel for the Applicant: Mr Matta
Solicitors for the Applicant: Mills Oakley Lawyers
Counsel for the Respondent: Mr Arnold
Solicitors for the Respondent: Susan Snyder
Counsel for the Proposed Second & Third Respondents: Mr Sweeney
Solicitors for the Proposed Second & Third Respondents: Lander & Rogers
Counsel for the Proposed Fourth Respondent: Ms Smallwood
Solicitors for the Proposed Fourth Respondent: Minter Ellison

ORDERS

  1. Leave be granted to the applicant to join BK as the first third parties and Mr K as the second third party.

  2. The parties file pleadings (or amended pleadings) in accordance with the Federal Court Rules.

  3. The matter be adjourned for directions on a date and time to be advised.

  4. Costs be reserved.

THE COURT DIRECTS THAT:

  1. The parties submit draft directions with respect to the proper conduct of the matter within 28 days.

IT IS NOTED IN CONNECTION WITH THESE ORDERS that the judgment of Judge Riethmuller delivered this day will for all publication and reporting purposes be referred to as Reed & Reed.

FEDERAL CIRCUIT COURT
OF AUSTRALIA
AT MELBOURNE

MLC 11306 of 2014

MR REED

Applicant

And

MS REED

Respondent

REASONS FOR JUDGMENT

  1. On 2 November 2006 the applicant and first respondent entered into a financial agreement in contemplation of marriage. The financial agreement was drawn by the proposed second and third respondents (“BK”) who were then solicitors for the applicant. The financial agreement relies upon section 90B of the Family Law Act 1975 to take effect as a binding financial agreement, precluding the first respondent access to a property settlement order under section 79 of the Act.

  2. The parties were married on (omitted) 2006 and subsequently had two children, the first in (omitted) 2007 and the second in (omitted) 2011. On 9 February 2013 the parties separated.

  3. On 12 December 2014 the applicant brought proceedings to enforce the financial agreement, seeking orders that the respondent return to him a BMW motor vehicle in her possession, that he pay to her $117,000 and that the respondent vacate a property at (omitted). The respondent in her response seeks orders setting aside the agreement pursuant to section 90K of the Act, and thereafter properly settlement orders pursuant to section 79 of the Act.

The wife’s claim

  1. In order to identify the real issues between the parties, orders were made for the respondent to file and serve a statement of claim. In her statement of claim she pleads the agreement and that the parties intended to be bound by the terms of the agreement once it was entered into on the basis that it was made in accordance with the Family Law Act and would take effect as a binding financial agreement. The respondent says that the agreement is not a binding financial agreement under the Family Law Act on the basis that:

    a)she did not receive independent legal advice from the solicitor who advised her prior to signing the agreement (“Mr K”); and

    b)she was not advised as to the advantages and disadvantages of the agreement at the time, contrary to section 90G(1)(b) of the Act.

  2. The respondent particularises this claim on the basis that: she had no solicitor at the time, the husband told her that he would arrange for her to attend upon a solicitor and that she attended at the offices of the husband’s solicitors two days before the wedding, where she was introduced to Mr K and told that he was to be her solicitor. She says that Mr K discussed the contents with her “very briefly” and did not provide her with any legal advice as to the effect of the agreement on her rights or the advantages and disadvantages at that time of her signing the agreement. She says that she did not engage Mr K nor pay for his services.

  3. The respondent further alleges that since the time of making the agreement there has been a material change in circumstances of the parties, namely, the birth of two children of whom she has primary care and responsibility and that therefore she will suffer hardship within the meaning of section 90K(1)(d) of the Act if the agreement is not set aside. I note that the agreement did not make provision for an altered arrangement upon separation in the event that the parties had children for which the respondent was the primary carer.

  4. The respondent also alleges that the applicant’s conduct in respect of making the financial agreement was unconscionable within the meaning of section 90K(1)(e) of the Act, relying upon the allegations that the applicant’s solicitor drew the agreement, that he arranged a solicitor (Mr K) for her to attend upon, that she saw the solicitor two days prior to the wedding, that the solicitor did not provide her with any legal advice as to the effect of the agreement or the advantages and disadvantages of it and that Mr K’s advice was not independent.

  5. The applicant, in his defence, alleges that at the time of entering into the financial agreement the parties contemplated having children (see paragraph 9(b) of the defence), that the discussions and oral agreement for a financial agreement were entered into earlier in 2006 and that the wife received independent advice.

  6. Thus, in summary, the mixed questions of fact and law that arise between the husband and wife are:

    a)whether or not Mr K was able to give “independent” advice, as contemplated by the statute in the circumstances in which he was appointed;

    b)whether or not Mr K gave the required advice to the respondent;

    c)whether or not the circumstances of the making of the agreement result in the agreement being unconscionable;

    d)whether or not the parties contemplated caring responsibility for the children at the time they entered into the financial agreement; and

    e)whether the changed circumstances of the parties result in the respondent suffering hardship such as to result in the agreement being set aside under section 90K of the Family Law Act.

The husband’s claims against the Second through Fourth Respondents

  1. As a result of the respondent’s claims, the applicant seeks to join the partners of the law firm who prepared the financial agreement on his behalf (BK), and the solicitor who provided advice to the respondent (Mr K).

  2. The claims that the applicant pleads against BK lie in contract tort pursuant to the Trade Practices Act, and the Fair Trading Act (Vic) 1999.

Jurisdiction

  1. The Federal Circuit Court of Australia (“FCCA”) has original jurisdiction to deal with all claims of the applicant and respondent pursuant to the Family Law Act. The FCCA also has original jurisdiction to deal with claims by the applicant against the proposed second and third respondents (BK) to the extent that they are pursuant to the Trade Practices Act (Cth) 1974 (now the Competition and Consumer Act 2010). To the extent that the applicant makes a claim against the second through fourth respondents on other bases, it must be determined if they fall within the accrued or associated jurisdiction of the court. In this regard the accrued and associated jurisdiction in the FCCA, in this case, differs from that of the Family Court of Australia as the FCCA has original jurisdiction under the Trade Practices Act (Consumer Law).

  2. In considering whether a matter is within the associated jurisdiction of the court, the High Court in Fencott v Muller [1983] HCA 12; (1983) 152 CLR 570 said:

    [34] the question … is whether the claim under the relevant federal law is a substantial part of a controversy the whole of which would be appropriately and conveniently determined by the court vested with jurisdiction in matters arising under that law.

  3. In Re Wakim [1999] HCA 27; 198 CLR 511; 163 ALR 270; 73 ALJR 839 found that associated disputes must have one common substratum of individual facts and that the determination of one dispute is essential to the determination of the other. Hayne J said in Re Wakim:

    [139] The central task is to identify the justiciable controversy. In civil proceedings, that will ordinarily require a close attention to the pleadings (if any) and to the factual basis of each claim.

  4. Further explanation was given by Gummow and Hayne JJ in Re Wakim where their Honours said at paragraph [140] and [141]:

    [140] In Fencott it was said that[163]:

    in the end, it is a matter of impression and of practical judgment whether a non-federal claim and a federal claim joined in a proceeding are within the scope of one controversy and thus within the ambit of a matter."

    The references to “impression” and “practical judgment” cannot be understood, however, as stating a test that is to be applied. Considerations of impression and practical judgment are relevant because the question of jurisdiction usually arises before evidence is adduced and often before the pleadings are complete. Necessarily, then, the question will have to be decided on limited information. But the question is not at large. What is a single controversy “depends on what the parties have done, the relationships between or among them and the laws which attach rights or liabilities to their conduct and relationships” [164]. There is but a single matter if different claims arise out of “common transactions and facts” or “a common substratum of facts” [165], notwithstanding that the facts upon which the claims depend “do not wholly coincide” [166]. So, too, there is but one matter where different claims are so related that the determination of one is essential to the determination of the other [167], as, for example, in the case of third party proceedings or where there are alternative claims for the same damage and the determination of one will either render the other otiose or necessitate its determination. Conversely, claims which are “completely disparate” [168], “completely separate and distinct” [169] or “distinct and unrelated” [170] are not part of the same matter.

    [141] Often, the conclusion that, if proceedings were tried in different courts, there could be conflicting findings made on one or more issues common to the two proceedings will indicate that there is a single matter. By contrast, if the several proceedings could not have been joined in one proceeding, it is difficult to see that they could be said to constitute a single matter.

  5. In this case, the applicant argues that all of the claims arise out of one common substratum of facts and circumstances and constitute a single matter or justiciable controversy.

  6. The claims in contract and tort arise from the applicant’s retainer of BK to prepare the binding financial agreement, including express provisions to cover the event of children of the marriage and to advise in relation to the execution of the financial agreement (see paragraph 13 of the statement of claim against BK). The applicant says that he has suffered loss and damage, namely the difference in value between the property to which he would be entitled to retain under the agreement and that which he will ultimately retain after section 79 proceedings by the wife, and alternatively damages for the loss of an opportunity to enter into a binding financial agreement before or subsequently during the marriage.

  7. It is apparent that the facts and circumstances alleged by the respondent with respect to entering into the financial agreement, namely issues with respect to the arrangements for the advice to be given to her by Mr K and what advice was given, will be a common issue in the proceedings between the applicant and the respondent, as well as the applicant and Mr K and the solicitors BK (who made the arrangements on his behalf for Mr K to advise the respondent). If, as the respondent alleges, the arrangements were carried out in such a way that Mr K did not provide her with “independent” legal advice, resulting in the financial agreement being set aside, the applicant has pleaded a prima facie case that as the circumstances in which the advice was arranged and given were effected by his solicitors BK, they were arguably in breach of their retainer agreement to take reasonable care and skill.

  8. Secondly, if, as the applicant alleges in his defence, the parties entered into the financial agreement in contemplation of having children, and this was made known to the solicitors BK, the failure to recount this significant part of the oral agreement in the written agreement, and potentially the failure to make provision in the written agreement for appropriate adjustment to the amount to be received by the respondent, gives rise to a prima facie case against the solicitors with respect to the drawing of the financial agreement. However, this claim will not give rise to a common factual dispute between the parties, in that it will not be necessary to decide whether or not the applicant instructed his solicitors of this feature of the case in the dispute as between the applicant and respondent, only whether or not the applicant and respondent contemplated it in their dealings with each other.

  9. The final matter will be whether or not the solicitors gave the husband advice as to the likelihood of the agreement being enforceable in the event that the parties had children together, after many years elapsed.  This fact or circumstance will only be relevant in the proceedings between the applicant and BK, the solicitors, not in the proceedings between the applicant and the respondent.

  10. With respect to the claims pursuant to the Fair Trading Act and Trade Practices Act, the applicant alleges that as a result of the advice he was given by telephone preceding the making of the agreement and representations made in a letter following the agreement (the representation in the letter being to the effect that the agreement’s terms “will be upheld”) the solicitors BK engaged in misleading or deceptive conduct or conduct likely to mislead or deceive contrary to section 52 of the Trade Practices Act (now the Competition and Consumer Act) and section 9 of the Fair Trading Act.

  11. The applicant also seeks to rely upon the terms of the retainer agreement, however it appears to me that there may not be a prima facie case that the terms of the retainer agreement, to the extent that they related to future conduct by the solicitors, could be said to have been misleading and deceptive.

  12. There is not a common factual question between the applicant and respondent and the applicant and his solicitors relating to the representations that were made to him by his solicitors. However, the applicant has pleaded a prima facie claim within the meaning of section 52 of the Trade Practices Act (now Competition and Consumer Act 2010), which is able to be litigated in the Federal Circuit Court’s original jurisdiction under that legislation. 

  13. It appears clear that a claim for misleading and deceptive conduct with respect to the way in which BK carried out their professional duties and the advice that they gave to the applicant is in substance based upon the same facts and circumstances as a claim in negligence and breach of retainer, albeit that the ultimate legal tests will vary slightly, as substantially the same substratum of facts and circumstances is the basis for each of the causes of action. I am therefore satisfied that the Court has accrued jurisdiction to deal with all of the claims by the applicant against his solicitors, BK, based upon the original jurisdiction of the Court with respect to the federal statutory claims for misleading and deceptive conduct.

  14. The applicant also brings proceedings against Mr K, which are pleaded solely pursuant to section 9 of the Fair Trading Act, as being conduct that was misleading or deceptive on the basis of the certificate that he signed, certifying that he had given independent legal advice to the wife. The applicant brings proceedings against Mr K on the basis that providing the certificate was negligent if he had not, in fact, given the advice as set out therein on an independent basis and alternatively a breach of the Fair Trading Act.

  15. As pleaded, the claim against Mr K by the applicant is that he entered into the financial agreement in reliance upon Mr K’s representations. It is alleged that those representations were misleading and deceptive within the meaning of the Fair Trading Act.

  16. The facts and circumstances relevant to determining whether or not Mr K was an independent legal advisor are the same facts and circumstances that will be the subject of findings with respect to the claims against BK. In this sense there is a clear commonality of factual and legal dispute in the proceedings against all of the solicitors.

  17. The terms of the advice actually given to the respondent, would not have been known to BK and therefore there is no commonality of fact finding in this respect. However, there is a commonality in factual disputes as between the claim by the respondent against the applicant and the claim by the applicant against Mr K.

  18. I accept that the claims against BK are all based upon substantially the same series of events and circumstances. The FCCA has jurisdiction with respect to the claims against BK on the basis of its original jurisdiction pursuant to the Trade Practices Act (now the Competition and Consumer Act) and with respect to the balance of the claims on the basis of its accrued jurisdiction as the claims are all part of one matter. I am also satisfied that these claims and the claims against Mr K also form part of one matter and therefore the court has accrued jurisdiction with respect to the fourth respondent.

Family Court Authority

  1. It was argued before me that authority from the Family Court of Australia bore upon the question of whether or not the claims against the solicitors would form part of the Court’s accrued jurisdiction with respect to the claim between the husband and wife as to the binding financial agreement and potential property settlement proceedings pursuant to section 79 of the Family Law Act. The cases in this regard are difficult. 

  2. In Noll & Noll and Anor [2013] FamCAFC 24; (2013) 48 Fam LR 635, the Full Court concluded that a claim by a husband against the wife’s solicitors with respect to inappropriately completing a certificate for a binding financial agreement were not part of a single justiciable controversy. In that case, it appears that the wife claimed that the financial agreement she and the husband had entered into was not binding as a result of non-compliance with section 90G(1)(b) (at [7]). The husband sought to sue her solicitors on the basis that they owed him a duty to exercise reasonable care and skill and failed to fulfil that duty in failing to advise her as to the advantages and disadvantages of entering into the agreement as required by section 90G.

  1. The Full Court said, at paragraph [25], that the determination was based upon whether or not the claims arose “from a common substratum of facts and gave rise to one single justiciable controversy”. The Full Court approached the case on the basis that even with a common substratum of facts there remains the need to identify one justiciable controversy (see paragraphs [37] and [38]). The test applied by the Full Court in Noll’s case was whether or not the attached claim was essential to the determination of the federal claim (see paragraphs [44] and [45]).

  2. The Full Court concluded that the determination of the federal claim did not require the determination of the state claim (the claim against the solicitor) and that the determination of the measure of damages that may be obtained against the solicitor, if that claim was successful, was not a necessary matter to have determined before the federal claim (the family law proceedings) were concluded: (see paragraphs [48] and [49]). The Full Court rejected the argument that there was a risk of conflicting findings of fact in the two claims, pointing to the fact that the transcript in a proceeding could be utilised in another proceeding (see paragraph [50]).

  3. Subsequently, in F Firm & Ruane and Ors [2014] FamCAFC 189, a wife sought to sue her own solicitors with respect to claims for breach of contract, negligence, breach of duty of care and breach of fiduciary duty. In that case, the claim against the solicitors was by the party who was defending the financial agreement. In F Firm, Strickland J, concluded that there were two factual differences between that case and Noll’s case: (a) a Judge of the Family Court had already declared the financial agreement entered into between the parties not to be binding (see paragraph [165]) and (b) the claim in Noll was not against the solicitors of the claimant but the solicitors of the other party (see paragraph [169]).

  4. Strickland J, concluded that nothing turned on the first factual distinction (see paragraph [168]) but that the second matter had “relevant legal significance”: (see paragraph [170]). At paragraph [172], Strickland J says that the distinction does not depend simply on the fact that the damages are sought by a party against their own former solicitor, rather than the other party’s former solicitor and similarly that it is not the differences in the cause of actions “per se which is relevant to whether the jurisdiction is attracted” (see paragraph [170]). At paragraph [171], his Honour says:

    In Fencott v Muller their Honours continued, “[t]he scope of a controversy which constitutes a matter is not ascertained merely by reference to the proceedings which a party may institute, but may be illuminated by the conduct of those proceedings and especially by the pleadings in which the issues and controversy are defined and the claims for relief are set out”


    (at 608).

  5. The judgment of Thackray J is critical of the judgment in Noll. His Honour was of the view that Noll was wrongly decided (see paragraph [73]). May J, in Re F Firm, agreed with the outcome but was not prepared to overrule Noll (see paragraph [10]). May and Thackray JJ both agreed that to suggest that the test for whether or not there was accrued jurisdiction was not whether “the non-Federal claim was “essential” to the determination of the Family Court [sic] claim” (see paragraph [9]).

  6. It seems that the point of distinction between Noll and F Firm is that in Noll’s case a claim by the party seeking to uphold the financial agreement solely against the other party’s former solicitor was not categorised as being part of a single justiciable controversy rather that it was completely disparate, completely separate and distinct, or distinct and unrelated to the proceedings under the Family Law Act. In this case, it is apparent (based on the decision in F Firm) that the claims by the applicant against his own former solicitors with respect to the financial agreement are within the accrued jurisdiction of the court based upon the original jurisdiction under the Family Law Act.

  7. This adds a different complexion to the case. On this basis the decision in Noll must be distinguished on its facts from the present proceedings. If I be wrong in this regard, then it appears that I am bound to follow Noll with respect to the claim against the wife’s former solicitor until such time as it is overturned, although it does appear there is considerable force in the arguments set out by Thackray J in F Firm & Runae.

  8. I conclude that the FCCA also has accrued jurisdiction with respect to the claims against the proposed second through fourth respondents as a result of its original jurisdiction to deal with the financial agreement pursuant to Family Law Act.

Summary

  1. The court has two separate bases upon which it has jurisdiction to deal with the claims against the solicitors in this case. Firstly its original jurisdiction pursuant to the Trade Practices Act (now Competition and Consumer Act) and the accrued jurisdiction with respect to that claim; and secondly the court’s accrued jurisdiction as a result of its jurisdiction to deal with the financial agreement under the Family Law Act.

  2. Before me, counsel for the applicant did not pursue the claim with respect to associated jurisdiction, which would need to be traversed if I am wrong in concluding that I have accrued jurisdiction for the either of the above reasons.

Limitation Period Argument

  1. The second argument raised by the second through fourth respondents against joinder is based upon a claim that the cause of action had accrued outside of the relevant limitation period (six years) and that therefore the claim was statute-barred. 

  2. The limitations point had not been raised in the pleadings of the respondents and therefore was not available at the time that the matter was argued orally. Leave was granted for the respondents to amend their pleadings to plead a limitation defence in due course if they saw fit. Such a defence needs to be squarely pleaded if it is to be relied upon, as it may be waived by respondents: see Commonwealth vVerwayen (1990) 170 CLR 394.

  3. In these circumstances, I do not attempt to traverse the arguments with respect to whether or not the cause of action accrues only upon the point at which damages crystallise in the sense discussed in WardleyAustralia Ltd v Western Australia (1992) 175 CLR 514, or whether the cause of action accrued far earlier, as discussed by the Supreme Court of New Zealand in Thom v Davey Burton [2008] NZSC 65. I expect there are far more authorities than Wardley and Thom on this issue in similar circumstances that would also need to be the subject of argument.

  4. The complexity of the issue favours the proposition that such an argument should not be decided on an interlocutory application rather, after findings of fact at the trial. I note that in WardleyAustralia Ltd v Western Australia [1992] HCA 55; (1992) 175 CLR the plurality applied this proposition in the context of a limitation point:

    We should, however, state in the plainest of terms that we regard it as undesirable that limitation questions of the kind under consideration should be decided in interlocutory proceedings in advance of the hearing of the action, except in the clearest of cases. Generally speaking, in such proceedings, insufficient is known of the damage sustained by the plaintiff and of the circumstances in which it was sustained to justify a confident answer to the question.

  5. The third argument raised by the second through fourth respondents was that the cause of action will arguably not accrue until such time as the financial agreement is set aside, or potentially determination is made as to the property settlement orders under section 79 as between the applicant and respondent (if these two events come to pass). Proceeding on the assumption that the cause of action arises upon the setting aside of the binding financial agreement or the making of orders under section 79, the current proceedings are theoretically issued prior to the cause of action arising.

  6. If the cause of action arises after proceedings are issued it can be added to the proceedings, even in a traditional common law proceeding. In claims for contribution or indemnity, it is common for the claim to proceed against third parties on the basis of pleadings or alternative facts which remain in dispute. In Port of Melbourne Authority v Anshun Pty Ltd [1981] HCA 45; (1981) 147 CLR 589 the court said:

    Although the right to an indemnity arises on payment of the liability to which it relates and not before, this is not a bar to the litigation as between a defendant and a third party, or as between defendants, of a claim based on an indemnity in respect of a liability in negligence asserted by the plaintiff in his action. It is accepted that under so-called “third party procedures” of the kind provided by O. 16A, the claim to an indemnity may be litigated in the plaintiff’s action, notwithstanding that the payment creating the right to indemnity is not made until after the amount of the plaintiff’s verdict is ascertained in that action. It has been repeatedly affirmed that one of the peculiarities of third party procedure is that it enables litigation on the indemnity to take place before there is any liability (Hordern-Richmond Ltd. v. Duncan [1947] 1 K.B 545, at p.552; Bitumen and Oil Refineries (Australia) Ltd. v. Commissioner for Government Transport (1955) 92 C.L.R. 200).

  7. In this case it is arguable that the cause of action arose when the respondent alleged the financial agreement was not enforceable. Even if the causes of action against the solicitors only accrue on a judgment by the respondent against the applicant under section 79, joinder is appropriate on the basis identified in Anshun’s case.

Joinder

  1. I turn then to consider joinder of the various causes of action. I am satisfied that the questions of law and fact in the various transactions that are the basis of the claims are sufficiently related to permit joinder of the claims in these proceedings. If I were wrong in this regard, I would exercise the discretion to hear the matrimonial cause at the same time as the other causes and order that the evidence in one be taken to be evidence in the other.

  2. Different considerations with respect to joinder (not jurisdiction) may apply in a court of specialist jurisdiction such as the Family Court of Australia (which may better explain the differences in Noll’s case and F Firm & Ruane and Ors), however the FCCA is not a specialist court. I have considered whether the problem of identifying which court (the Federal Court or the Family Court) may be the appropriate appellate jurisdiction in a case such as this, given the variety of causes of action, is relevant. Issues about which court may be the appropriate appellate court do not appear to justify a different decision on joinder.

  3. I therefore grant the applicant leave to join the solicitors BK as the first third parties (given they are sued together as partners of a law firm) and Mr K as the second third party.

  4. I will order that the parties file pleadings (or amended pleadings) in accordance with the Federal Court Rules. I direct the parties to submit draft agreed directions with respect to the proper conduct of the matter within 28 days, following which the matter be listed for a directions hearing.

  5. I reserve the question of costs.

I certify that the preceding fifty-three (53) paragraphs are a true copy of the reasons for judgment of Judge Riethmuller

Date: 3 June 2016

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Cases Citing This Decision

1

Beckstead & Beckstead [2021] FCCA 566
Cases Cited

9

Statutory Material Cited

4

Fencott v Muller [1983] HCA 12