Where a plaintiff's claims in a proceeding for which security is sought vastly exceed the amount of the opposing party's claim (here, $2 million versus $80,000), the claims will be characterised as overwhelmingly offensive in substance even if technically relied upon as a defence by way of set-off, and the 'defensive proceedings' ground for refusing security will not succeed. A judge conducting a rehearing de novo of a judicial registrar's interlocutory decision may adopt the registrar's reasoning rather than repeating it.
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