Chesterfields Preschools Ltd v Commissioner of Inland Revenue

In Chesterfields Preschools Limited v Commissioner of Inland Revenue, the plaintiffs sought to establish that the Commissioner of Inland Revenue had maliciously prosecuted civil proceedings against them. The plaintiffs were various companies and individuals, all associated with David John Hampton. The Commissioner applied to strike out the plaintiffs’ claims for malicious prosecution of civil proceedings. The court considered the elements of the tort of malicious civil proceedings and whether the plaintiffs had established a tenable cause of action.

The court found that in relation to the liquidation proceedings, the plaintiffs had not established a tenable cause of action because the proceedings had not been resolved in their favour. In relation to the summary judgment proceedings, the court found that the proceedings had not been permanently set aside as the plaintiffs alleged. The court struck out the plaintiffs’ claims in relation to all but one of the proceedings, finding that the only tenable claim was that of Chesterfields Preschools Limited in relation to the liquidation proceeding M135/00. The court ordered Chesterfields Preschools Limited to file an amended statement of claim and adjourned the plaintiffs’ application for discovery.

The court's order was that the statement of claim was to be struck out in its entirety, except for the claim of Chesterfields Preschools Limited in relation to proceeding M135/00. The court reserved costs and adjourned the proceeding for further case management.