Rendell v Federal Capital Press of Australia Pty ltd & Ors [2003] ACTSC 100

1. This motion initially sought orders striking out certain paragraphs of the statement of claim on the grounds that they disclose no reasonable cause of action and make claims which are frivolous or vexatious, or alternatively make claims that tend to prejudice, embarrass, or delay the fair trial of the action.

2. When the matter began before me this morning Mr Littlemore QC, who appears for the respondent to the motion, quite properly drew my attention to the decision of the Federal Court of Australia in West Australian Newspapers Ltd v Aboriginal Nations Pty Ltd [1999] FCA 873, an unreported decision delivered on 13 May 1999, in which Heerey J, with whom Miles and Finn JJ apparently agreed, criticised the approach that had been taken in that case of pursuing a strikeout application in relation to the form of imputations and observed that if the applicants had sought a binding determination of any legal question they could have applied for a preliminary trial under O 37 r 2 of the ACT Supreme Court Rules