case:

Peter Snell 'flips' properties. That is, he buys houses, renovates them and sells them at a profit. He lives in Melbourne and he renovates and sells properties all over the country. He personally does most of the renovations but also hires builders to assist when necessary. He has made nearly a million dollars doing thisin the last 8 years.

He identifies the properties which he buys to renovate, on the advice of a chain of real estate agents operating nationally. These agents are called Frank Properties Pty Ltd. Real estate agents from Frank Properties send Peter regular email recommendations identifying potential properties which he could buy for renovation and re-sale. Peter mainly deals with Thomas Frank who is the managing director of Frank Properties and head of the Brisbane office. He tells Peter constantly "I have my finger on the property pulse in Brisbane and nationwide, I know what's going on, you can rely on my advice about what to buy". In return for his advice Peter would give Thomas a 10% share of any profits he made from the subsequent sale of any property that Frank had recommended. This arrangement started in mid-January 2019.

In January 2020 Thomas Frank recommended that Peter buy a beach side property in 27 Croc st Darwin for renovation and sale. At first Peter was sceptical about the purchase because Thomas had not seen the property. Thomas nonetheless told Peter that he had reliable sources that had told him that this coastal property in Darwin "was holiday maker's delight and if renovated would yield a big profit at sale from rich southerners looking for a summer escape". Thomas told Peter that he would get "a minimum sale price after renovation of $750,000".

On 30 January 2020 Peter bought the Darwin property outright for $500,000. As he was busy working on another property in Melbourne he couldn't personally undertake the renovations on the Darwin house. He therefore hired a local building contractor in Darwin, Simon Bush, who traded as "Bush Fixer". He quoted the renovation at $80,000.

Things went downhill from there. The renovation was completed but went $20,000 over budget. Unfortunately, the fixtures and fittings and building materials that Peter had instructed Simon to use, were not used by him so the renovation didn't look anywhere near as good as it should have. The property was sold at auction by Frank Properties Pty Ltd in June 2020 for $620,000 even though it was listed for sale at $750,000. Apparently, the beach upon which the house was situated had a crocodile problem all year round which meant you couldn't swim in the water.

Peter was outraged that he'd been lied to by Frank and cheated by Simon and only made a small profit. He wanted to get the profit that he was promised by Thomas Frank and he wanted to get his money back from Simon Bush. He visited his local Bundoora based solicitor, Denis Sanuto, because he had a degree from a very old law school so he assumed the solicitor was an expert. Denis advised Peter that it wasn't possible to sue more than one party at a time in Victoria, so Peter would have to choose one defendant to sue. He could sue Thomas or Simon but not both. He also advised that Thomas or his estate agency could have a very good defence to an action by Peter. The defence could claim that the representation as to price was merely exaggerated sales talk and not meant to be taken seriously saying "after all, who takes any real estate agent's quotes seriously". Notwithstanding that, Dennis advised Peter that he should sue the agency because they have a lot of money and they would be likely to settle to avoid adverse publicity. Dennis told Peter that a letter of demand need not be sent to the agency and they should take them by surprise by going straight to issuing proceedings. Dennis also advised Peter that after he issues proceedings, Peter should absolutely refuse to enter into any negotiations with the defendant until it came time for trial, in order to increase the pressure and the likelihood of a larger payout.

Dennis filed the following statement of claim on behalf of Peter.

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF VICTORIA AT Melbourne

No.243 of2020

Date of Document: Filed on behalf of: Prepared by:

Mr. Sanuto Solicitors

4 Main Street, Bundoora

Frank Properties Pty Ltd STATEMENT OF CLAIM

1 July 2020

Plaintiff

Solicitor's Code: 007 DX: 007

Tel No: 1800 666 Ref: MI

Peter Snell

BETWEEN:

and

Plaintiff

Defendant

1.At all material times the defendant was a real estate agency.

2.At all material times the plaintiff was a client of the defendant.

3.On or about 30 January 2020 the plaintiff purchased a property in Darwin on the advice of the defendant.

4.The defendant negligently failed to give the plaintiff proper advice.

5.The defendant caused the plaintiff to suffer loss of profits from the purchase and resale of the property in Darwin.

6.On or about 15 January 2019 the plaintiff entered into an agreement with the defendant whereby the defendant agreed to provide property recommendations to the plaintiff for the purchase, renovation and resale of each property in return for which the defendant would receive 10% of the profit from the subsequent re-sale of each renovated property.

PARTICULARS

The agreement was partly written, partly oral and partly to be implied from the conduct of the parties.

7.It was an express term of the agreement that a property at 27 Croc St. Darwin ("property") would be re-sold after renovation for $750,000. A copy of sales brochure listing the property for sale at this price is attached to this statement of claim.

8.In breach of the defendant's obligations under the contract the property sold for $620,000.

9.The defendant's breach has caused the plaintiff to suffer damage.

10.Further and in the alternative, defendant through its agents has breached the Australian Consumer Law.

AND THE PLAINTIFF CLAIMS: Damages.

The statement of claim was filed on 1 July 2020 without any accompanying documents. After filing the Statement of Claim, Dennis engaged process servers to personally serve the claim on Thomas Frank. They went to his home on 28 July 2021 and his wife answered the door. She took the claim and said. "I'll make sure Thomas gets this". Seven days later Thomas Frank, writing as director of Frank Properties PtyLtd sent a letter to Sanuto suggesting negotiations over the claim with Peter.

Question -Should the plaintiff add any defendants to the proceedings? If so, how could he do so under the Supreme Court Rules and would he be successful in doing so?