Terry Cross Financial Services v Michael Misiti & Ors

The case before the Federal Court of Australia involved a claim by Terry Cross Financial Services against Michael Misiti and two other defendants. Terry Cross Financial Services alleged that the defendants had unlawfully interfered with their trade or business interests through a series of actions including inducement of breach of contract of employment, conspiracy, and procurement of civil wrongs. The defendants sought to have all or some of the causes of action struck out on the basis that they were time-barred or otherwise incompetent.

The primary legal issues before the court were whether the claims were statute-barred, and if they were not, whether they disclosed a cause of action. The court had to determine the applicable limitation periods for each claim, assess whether the claims were within those periods, and decide if the claims, even if not barred by limitation, disclosed a cause of action.

The court found that the claims for inducement of breach of contract of employment and procurement of civil wrongs were statute-barred as they were brought outside the applicable limitation periods. However, the claim for conspiracy was not statute-barred and the court found that it did disclose a cause of action. The court held that the claim for contravention of corporations law was not made out as it was not pleaded with sufficient particulars. Consequently, the court ordered that the claims for inducement of breach of contract of employment and procurement of civil wrongs be struck out, while the claim for conspiracy was to proceed to trial.

The final orders of the court were that the claims for inducement of breach of contract of employment and procurement of civil wrongs were to be struck out. The claim for conspiracy was to proceed to trial, while the claim for contravention of corporations law was to be dismissed for want of particulars.