Southern Cross Mine Management Pty Ltd v Ensham Resources Pty Ltd & Ors

[2004] QSC 457

Supreme Court of Queensland

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Interrogate

Catchwords

1. Practice and Procedure
2. › Pleading
3. › Defence and counterclaim
4. › Strike out application
5. › Failure to plead causal connection between breach and loss
6. › Whether parts of counter-claim should be struck out
7. › Uniform Civil Procedure Rules 1999 (Qld), r 171
1. Equity
2. › Breach of fiduciary duty
3. › Causation
4. › Whether equitable relief dispenses with need to establish causal connection between breach and loss
5. › Distinction between rescission and compensatory or proprietary remedies
1. Equity
2. › Breach of trust
3. › Equitable compensation
4. › Whether considerations of causation apply to claims for equitable compensation and account of profits

Quick Take

A plaintiff seeking equitable compensation, account of profits, or a constructive trust for breach of fiduciary duty must plead material facts establishing a causal connection between the breach and the loss, profit, or asset — the relaxed approach to causation in [name withheld] v [name withheld] applies only to rescission where the breach was patent at the creation of the transaction to be set aside. Pleadings that allege non-disclosures without connecting them to the impugned transaction are liable to be struck out.