By an originating summons, two plaintiffs seek various reliefs against the defendant. The 1st Plaintiff, which is a law firm, claims compensation for legal work done for the defendant upon a contract for services, or in the alternative, on a quantum meruit basis in the sum of $60,000 plus 2% interest. The 2nd Plaintiff a company incorporated in these islands in 2015 and struck off the register of companies in 2020, seeks reliefs for wrongs allegedly committed by the defendant against it.
The claims before this court are the subject of a strikeout application by the defendant. It must be noted that the plaintiffs had issued a prior process being a statutory demand notice against the defendant. This situation appears to have led to the conflation of matters connected to the statutory demand with the originating summons. This ruling will however be concerned with the matters raised in the strikeout application in CL151/22 only.
The following issues stand for determination in this strikeout application:
1. Whether or not the 2nd plaintiff a struck-out company has the capacity to maintain a suit against the defendant, or at all.
2. Whether or not the first plaintiff as director had the necessary authority to maintain the instant suit in the name of the 2nd plaintiff.
3. Whether or not the claims for taxation, disclosure of assets, an accounting, aggravated damages for alleged 'general misconduct' of the defendant regarding alleged contracts, and a charging order are competent, as disclosing proper causes of action in the circumstances.
4. Whether or not the originating summons was the proper mode of commencing the instant suit.
Held: The 2nd Plaintiff is struck out of this suit for want of capacity and/or authority to sue. The claims for specific performance, disclosure of assets, taxation and aggravated damages are struck out as disclosing no cause of action against the defendant. The alternative claim for compensation on quantum meruit basis is not struck out. An order is made for the Pt Plaintiff to file a statement of claim within fourteen days, taking care to exclude the claims/reliefs struck out herein.