Stack & Anor v Elster Metering Pty Ltd & Ors

The applicants, Stack and another, sought to restrain the respondents, Elster Metering Pty Ltd and others, from continuing with a proceeding in the Supreme Court of New South Wales. The dispute concerned allegations of misleading and deceptive conduct in relation to the sale of electricity meters.

The central legal issue before the High Court was whether the applicants had established a sufficient basis to grant an interlocutory injunction to restrain the New South Wales proceeding. This involved considering the principles governing the grant of such injunctions, particularly in circumstances where a party seeks to prevent another from pursuing litigation in a competent court.

The High Court, comprising Gleeson CJ and McHugh J, ultimately dismissed the application. Their Honours reasoned that the applicants had failed to demonstrate that the New South Wales proceeding was vexatious, an abuse of process, or otherwise unjust to be allowed to continue. The court emphasised that the power to restrain proceedings in another court is an exceptional one, to be exercised only in clear cases where the interests of justice demand it. The applicants had not met this high threshold.