MERRIFIELD CORPORATION PTY LTD and Others v FAL MICKLEHAM PTY LTD (No 1) Supreme Court of VictoriaHarris J 11 October 2024, 2, 17, 28 April, 13 May 2025[2025] VSC 253Courts and judges — Jurisdiction — Cross-vesting — Special federal matter — Action for enforcement of restrictive covenant — Defence alleged restrictive covenant ineffective and unenforceable under Commonwealth consumer legislation — Whether Court had jurisdiction to determine issue — Whether matter was one ‘arising under’ pt IV of the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (Cth) — Whether matter for determination a ‘special federal matter’ — Whether special reasons justifying determination of proceeding by Court — Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (Cth), s 86 — Jurisdiction of Courts (Cross-vesting) Act 1987 (Cth), ss 4(1), 6 — Jurisdiction of Courts (Cross-vesting) Act 1987 (Vic), ss 3, 6.
Section 4(1) of the Jurisdiction of Courts (Cross-vesting) Act 1987 (Cth) (Commonwealth Act) provided a source of federal jurisdiction for state and territory courts in a range of matters. Section 6, which was in materially the same terms as its equivalent provision in the Jurisdiction of Courts (Cross-vesting) Act 1987 (Vic) (Victorian Act), relevantly required that if a matter for determination in a proceeding pending in the Supreme Court of a State or Territory was a ‘special federal matter’, the court must transfer the proceeding to the Federal Court of Australia unless the court made an order under s 6(3) that the proceeding be determined by it, where satisfied that there were special reasons for doing so. A ‘special federal matter’ relevantly included ‘a matter arising under Part IV of the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (other than under section 45D, 45DA, 45DB, 45E or 45EA)’.