Cascio v Western Suburbs Soccer, Sports & Community Club Limited t/as Canada Bay Club

Judgment 1HIS HONOUR: This is an application for short service of a summons. The plaintiff is a member of the Western Suburbs Soccer, Sports & Community Club Limited that trades as the Canada Bay Club. His evidence is that for three years up to November 2010 he was a director of the Club. 2On 7 June 2012 the board of the club commenced what was called a "disciplinary hearing" in respect of the plaintiff. That hearing has been adjourned to 16 July 2012. The plaintiff's application is for short service of the application for an interlocutory or interim injunction to restrain the defendant through its directors from continuing to conduct the disciplinary hearing. The application is supported by a substantive affidavit from the plaintiff. 3I have concluded that I should not make an order for short service. The first reason is that as Young J said in Gamilaroi Boomerangs Sports Aboriginal Corporation v Members of New England Group 19 Rugby League General Committee [1999] NSWSC 293: "7(a) Bodies such as Group 19, which exist to promote sport in a locality, must generally be free to conduct their affairs informally, and the court will only become involved as, more or less, a last resort, otherwise the right of freedom of association held so dear by Australians would be thwarted. 8(b) As a general rule people who want to hold meetings should be allowed to hold them, otherwise the right of freedom of speech and association would be impinged." 4This court is very reluctant to restrain the holding of meetings. If a resolution proposed at a meeting is liable to be impugned, and if the resolution is passed, an application can be made for the resolution to be declared void and to restrain the body from acting on an invalid resolution. 5The second reason why short service is inappropriate is that the defendant could not fairly be expected to be in a position to deal with the application prior to the meeting to be held on Monday. 6The third reason is that there is a prospect that once the defendant and its directors know of the institution of these proceedings and have obtained legal advice, further litigation might become unnecessary. If the plaintiff's contentions are made good, the plaintiff would be entitled to a declaration that an adverse determination, and any penalty that might be resolved upon, should be declared void and the directors restrained from acting on any such resolution. 7I do not accept that the mere further holding of the disciplinary hearing and the possible adverse determination that might be made would irretrievably adversely affect the plaintiff's reputation. If the plaintiff succeeds at a later hearing, any such adverse effect would be removed by the Court's finding as to the invalidity of the resolution. 8It is appropriate to say something further about the plaintiff's complaint. 9On 17 April 2012 the plaintiff wrote to the Club's president, Mr Aziz, and to its general manager, Mr Kirkham. He said that over the last few months, he and other members of a concerned group had been approached by a large number of members that had told him about their concerns covering a broad range of matters. He said, amongst other things, that members were discontented, that the Club had ceased to be a place with a relaxing atmosphere, and that all concerned, including staff, were on tenterhooks. The plaintiff added: "The comments I and the concerned members have heard from those members that often come to the club are: