Case: Jefferson Ford Pty Ltd v Ford Motor Company of Australia Ltd [2008] FCAFC 60 ; (2008) 167 FCR 372
Outcome: cited
critical words of s 31A(1), when applied to the present case, require me to be satisfied that the respondents have "... no reasonable prospect of successfully defending the proceeding ...". The following principles may be extracted from the authorities: (a) The moving party does not have to demonstrate that the defence is hopeless or unarguable; (b) The Court must consider the pleadings and the evidence with a "critical eye" in order to see whether the respondent party has evidence of sufficient quality and weight to be able to succeed at trial ( Jefferson Ford Pty Ltd v Ford Motor Company of Australia Ltd [2008] FCAFC 60 ; (2008) 167 FCR 372 at [23] (p 382) (per Finkelstein J)); (c) The respondent party is not obliged to present its whole case in order to defeat the summary judgment applicant but must at least present a sufficient outline of the evidence in order to enable the Court to come to a preliminary view about the merits for the purpose of considering the statutory test in s 31A(1)(b) ( Jefferson Ford Pty Ltd [2008] FCAFC 60 ; 167 FCR 372 at [22] (p 382) (per Finkelstein J)); and (d) The test may require greater scrutiny of the pleadings and evidence in some cases than in others. In my judgment, the words of s 31A(1) compel a flexible approach. The real question in every case is not so much whether there is any issue that could arguably go to trial but rather whether there is any issue that should be permitted to go to trial. This seems to be the approach of Finkelstein J in Jefferson Ford Pty Ltd [2008] FCAFC 60 ; 167 FCR 372 and of Gordon J in the same case (as to which see [123] [134] (pp 406 409)), although Rares J in that case at [73] [74] (p 394) and in Boston Commercial Services Pty Ltd v GE Capital Finance Australasia Pty Ltd [2006] FCA 1352 ; (2006) 236 ALR 720 esp at [45] (p 731) favoured a test which is much closer to the older test articulated in authorities decided under Rules of Court expressed in terms different from the language of s 31A(1)). I agree with the helpful summary of the relevant principles given by Gilmour J in Dandaven v Harbeth Holdings Pty Ltd [2008] FCA 955 where, at [5] and [6] of his Honour's Reasons, his Honour said: Section 31A of the Act Section 31A lowers the bar for obtaining summary judgment: White Industries Australia Ltd v Commissioner of Taxation [2007] FCA 511 ; (2007) 160 FCR 298. The second reading speech of the Migration Litigation Reform Bill 2005 which introduced s 31A stated that its purpose was to strengthen "the power of the courts to deal with unmeritorious matters by broadening the grounds on which federal courts can summarily dispose of unsustainable cases": Boston Commercial Services Pty Ltd v GE Capital Finance Australasia Pty Ltd [2006] FCA 1352 ; (2006) 70 IPR 146 at [45] ; Jefferson Ford Pty Ltd v Ford Motor Company of Australia Ltd [2008] FCAFC 60 at [124] . Success under s 31A does not require a demonstration that the case is hopeless or bound to fail. The following principles are of general application to an application under s 31A: (a) the Court must be very cautious not to do a party an injustice by summarily dismissing proceedings; (b) the Court ought not dismiss a claim based on a predictive assessment of prospects, where it is possible that if the claim went to trial, it may succeed; (c) in a case where evidence can give colour and content to allegations, and where questions of fact and degree are important, the Court should be more reluctant to dismiss a proceeding on the face of a pleading; (d) it is not Parliament's intention to require the Court to engage in lengthy and elaborate trials on an interlocutory basis for the purposes of determining whether or not a proceeding has no reasonable prospects of success. It may be necessary for the opposing party to provide no more than an outline of evidence, sufficient to show that there is a genuine dispute, to prevent the summary application becoming a trial; (e) if there is a real issue of fact or law to be decided, and the rights of the parties depend upon it, it is obviously appropriate that the matter goes to trial. It cannot be said that where there is a real factual dispute and that factual dispute must be resolved to determine whether the claim succeeds that there is 'no reasonable prospect of success'; (g) it ought not be used to shut out proceedings where, on a proposition of law, there may be room for doubt. On questions of law, an inquiry as to their merit should not be for the purpose of resolving them and also not simply to determine whether the argument is hopeless, but in order to decide if it is sufficiently strong to warrant a trial; (h) evidence of an ambivalent character will usually be sufficient to amount to reasonable prospects; (i) in determining if there are real issues of fact in issue so as to preclude summary judgment the courts must draw all reasonable inferences in favour of the non-moving party. See Genovese v BGC Construction Pty Ltd [2007] FCA 923 at [5] ; Boston Commercial Services Pty Ltd v GE Capital Finance Australasia Pty Ltd [2006] FCA 1352 ; (2006) 70 IPR 146 at [42] - [48] ; Hicks v Ruddock [2007] FCA 299 ; (2007) 156 FCR 574 at [13] ; Bond v Barry (2007) 73 IPR 490 at [46]; Commonwealth Bank of Australia v ACN 000 247 601 Pty Ltd (in Liq) (formerly Stanley Thompson Valuers Pty Ltd) [2006] FCA 1416 at [30] ; Fortron Automotive Treatments Pty Ltd v Jones (No 2) [2006] FCA 1401 at [21] ; Jefferson Ford Pty Ltd v Ford Motor Company of Australia Limited [2008] FCAFC 60.