This was an application to strike out the Statement of Claim as being outside the jurisdiction of the Court. The Plaintiffs were former shareholders and officers of the Defendant. The claim was to recover various expenses paid by the Plaintiffs on behalf of the Defendant. The expenses were in relation to the construction of a vessel being built by the Defendant. The motions judge held that the Plaintiffs’ claims were not maritime matters and were therefore outside the jurisdiction of the court.
In the course of his reasons the motions judge noted that an affidavit to lead warrant sworn by the Plaintiffs’ solicitor had been based on double hearsay. The motions judge said that although signing such an affidavit might not be technically illegal it was most unusual and should not in normal circumstances be done.