Slater & Gordon Pty Ltd v Ann Rosa Mary Slater

Slater & Gordon Pty Ltd (the applicant) sought to strike out a claim brought by Ann Rosa Mary Slater (the respondent) in the Supreme Court of Victoria. The dispute concerned allegations of misleading and deceptive conduct and breach of fiduciary duty arising from the respondent's involvement in the sale of shares in a company. The applicant argued that the respondent's claim was frivolous, vexatious, and an abuse of process, and that it disclosed no reasonable cause of action.

The primary legal issue before the Court was whether the respondent's statement of claim, as amended, was so manifestly untenable that it ought to be struck out. This required the Court to consider whether, assuming the facts pleaded by the respondent were true, there was any reasonable prospect of success for her claim. The Court also had to determine if the claim constituted an abuse of process, particularly in light of previous proceedings and settlements.

Justice McDonagh considered the respondent's allegations of misleading and deceptive conduct under the *Trade Practices Act 1974* (Cth) and the *Australian Consumer Law*, as well as the alleged breach of fiduciary duty. The Court analysed the pleaded facts in detail, assessing whether they established a sufficient causal link between the applicant's alleged conduct and the respondent's loss. His Honour found that the respondent's claim, particularly in relation to the alleged misleading and deceptive conduct, was based on a speculative interpretation of events and lacked the necessary factual foundation to establish a reasonable cause of action. Furthermore, the Court concluded that the claim, when viewed in the context of prior litigation and settlements, amounted to an abuse of process.

The Court ordered that the respondent's amended statement of claim be struck out, and that the proceeding be dismissed.