Wang v Lo

The case of Wang v Lo involved a dispute between the plaintiff, Wang, and the defendants Lo, Tofu King, Mr Ting Ting Wu, and Auslong Enterprises Pty Ltd. Wang commenced proceedings against Tofu King, an unregistered business name, alleging breaches of contract and seeking damages. The dispute centred around the correct procedure for serving legal documents on unregistered business entities and the appropriate defendants to be named in the action. The matter was heard in the Local Court of New South Wales.

The court had to determine whether the plaintiff had correctly identified and served the defendants in the initial proceedings. Specifically, the court needed to decide if the plaintiff was required to take further steps to ascertain the true defendants and amend the statement of claim before proceeding with the action. Additionally, the court had to consider whether the plaintiff had leave to amend the statement of claim to substitute the third defendant, Tofu King, with Mr Ting Ting Wu and Auslong Enterprises Pty Ltd.

In its decision, the court found that the plaintiff had not correctly identified the defendants in the initial proceedings. The court noted that Tofu King was an unregistered business name and that it was necessary to ascertain the true defendants before proceeding further. The court also found that Mr Ting Ting Wu and Auslong Enterprises Pty Ltd were the appropriate defendants to be named in the action. Consequently, the court waived the requirement for the plaintiff to take further steps to ascertain the name and residential address of the defendants until the documents in the proceedings had been amended. The court granted the plaintiff leave to amend the statement of claim to substitute Tofu King with Mr Ting Ting Wu and Auslong Enterprises Pty Ltd, with a deadline of 31 October 2025 for filing the amended statement of claim. Service of the amended statement of claim on Mr Wu and Auslong Enterprises Pty Ltd was to be effected by delivering the amended statement of claim to Ms Wen Qing Chen, solicitor for Tofu King, by 7 November 2025. The matter was listed for a further directions hearing on 20 November 2025.