Taverners J Pty Ltd v Saxo Bank A/S

Taverners J Pty Ltd, the plaintiff, sought to recover damages against Saxo Bank A/S, the defendant, for alleged breaches of contract and fiduciary duty. The dispute arose from financial transactions and investment services provided by Saxo Bank. The matter was before the Supreme Court of New South Wales, where the defendant applied to strike out the plaintiff's statement of claim on the grounds that it may prejudice, embarrass or delay the fair trial of the proceeding and is an abuse of the Court’s process. The defendant also argued that the plaintiff's statement of claim was insufficiently particularised.

The court considered whether the plaintiff's statement of claim contained sufficient particulars to inform the defendant of the nature of the claim and whether it was appropriate to order particularisation after discovery. The court examined the principles set out in Clarke v Great Southern Finance Pty Ltd, as well as the relevant provisions of the Civil Procedure Act 2010 and the Supreme Court (General Civil Procedure) Rules 2005. The court also considered the appropriate circumstances for ordering particularisation as outlined in Arab Monetary Fund v Hashim (No 2) [1990] 1 All ER 673.

The court found that the plaintiff's statement of claim did not contain sufficient particulars to inform the defendant of the nature of the claim, but it was not an abuse of process to order particularisation after discovery. The court noted that the plaintiff had provided some details of the transactions and the basis of the claim, but these were not sufficient to enable the defendant to answer the claim effectively. The court therefore ordered the plaintiff to particularise its statement of claim within 28 days, and warned that failure to do so may result in the dismissal of the proceeding. The defendant's application to strike out the statement of claim was therefore dismissed.

The court ordered that the plaintiff's statement of claim be particularised within 28 days of the date of the judgment, and that the defendant file and serve its defence within 28 days after the plaintiff had particularised its statement of claim. The court also ordered that the parties exchange expert reports on the valuation of the investments in dispute within 90 days of the date of the judgment.