Tycho Pty Ltd v Trustworthy Nominees Pty Ltd (No 2)

The case of Tycho Pty Ltd v Trustworthy Nominees Pty Ltd (No 2) involved the parties Trustworthy Nominees Pty Ltd (the first defendant), Fraser (the second third party), and Tycho Pty Ltd. The dispute centered around Trustworthy's third party notice, filed on behalf of Fraser, in which Trustworthy alleged that Fraser, as its solicitor, had breached a duty of care and a statutorily implied guarantee in the drafting of a mortgage instrument and loan agreement that was later declared void due to fraud. Trustworthy sought damages for the alleged breach. Fraser applied to strike out specific parts of Trustworthy's third party notice.

The court had to determine whether the allegations in Trustworthy's third party notice disclosed a reasonable cause of action against Fraser, and whether the pleadings contained any matters that were embarrassing, prejudicial, scandalous, unnecessary, or likely to delay the proceedings. The court examined whether Trustworthy's claims were sufficient to establish a causal link between Fraser's alleged breach and the damages claimed, and whether Trustworthy's pleadings were struck out due to a lack of reasonable cause of action or due to other procedural defects.

The court found that Trustworthy's claims against Fraser were struck out because the pleadings failed to disclose a reasonable cause of action. The court reasoned that Fraser was not retained to provide advice, and it was unclear how advice on the Land Title Act 1994 would have exposed the forged documents. The court also found that the pleadings contained matters that were likely to cause prejudice or delay the fair trial of the proceeding. Therefore, the court ordered that specific paragraphs of Trustworthy's third party notice be struck out, granted Trustworthy leave to replead its claim, and ordered Trustworthy to pay Fraser's costs of the application.