The Court held that as a matter of principle, subsidiaries can combine with their parent company for the tort of conspiracy by unlawful means — separate legal personality is not a mere formality — but the combination must be pursuant to an actual agreement between the entities, not merely the implementation by subsidiaries of a parent's unilateral decision. On the facts, no combination was established because Uber Inc alone determined the strategy to launch UberX in Australia and the subsidiaries' execution of that plan did not constitute a 'combination of wills'. On unlawful means, the Court held it was bound by Williams v Hursey to find that where the unlawful means is a statutory offence, the tort requires that parliament intended remedies beyond those prescribed in the statute — a requirement not met by the passenger transport legislation. The breach of confidence claim succeeded on liability but no declaratory relief was granted as it would produce no foreseeable consequences for the parties.
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