Judge bags Austin Engineering’s Schlam Group case, rejects freeze push against departing Anastasia Podulova

A Federal judge has tipped the bucket on Austin Engineering as it pursues rival truck tray fitter Schlam Group and overseas-bound former star sales Anastasia Podulova. Justice Michael Feutrill has pointed out a series of “evidentiary deficiencies” while rejecting an application by Austin to freeze the assets of Ms Podulova because of her newly-unveiled plans to shift overseas. Refusing to exercise what he described as a “draconian power”, Justice Feutrill said Austin had not provided any evidence of financial loss or damage caused by her alleged misconduct when she moved from Austin to Schlam in January 2023. And 26 months into a Federal Court battle, Justice Feutrill has told Austin’s lawyers it was time to indicate the size of its financial claim against Welshpool-based Schlam. Justice Feutrill said possible mediation between the commercial rivals would be a “huge waste of everyone’s time” if Schlam was not able to take an informed view about the risk of going to trial. “I am reluctant to send people off to mediation half-cocked,” he said. Austin, which is listed on the stock exchange, launched a legal action in April 2023 against Ms Podulova and Schlam seeking injunctions preventing the use of allegedly pilfered computer files. Austin also sought damages. It expanded its case in late 2023 to claim that privately-owned Schlam interfered in Ms Podulova’s contractual obligations to her former employee. Austin alleged Ms Podulova had made mass copies of computer files while connecting USB devices to a company-owned desktop computer she had kept at her home after changing employers. Computer file and folder paths indicated she may have copied up to 250GB of data from Austin’s network, the former employer claimed. Ms Podulova is defending herself against the allegations. Schlam has a team of lawyers, who claimed that they still had not been shown any basis for allegations the company had breached contract of confidentiality. Austin sent lawyers to the Federal Court seeking asset freezing orders against Ms Podulova after her receiving an email saying she would be “moving overseas” on July 3. The Russian-raised sales star told Austin’s lawyers she “will be available online”. Austin claimed the email indicated Ms Podulova was leaving Australia permanently and would remove all her assets. But Justice Feutrill rejected this interpretation of her email and Austin’s application for a global asset freezing order up to a value of $210,000 to cover potential damages or costs orders. The judge said Austin had spelt out an arguable case for an injunction based on evidence that Ms Podulova had retained its confidential information. But it had not shown it was entitled to anything more than nominal damages under the Copyright Act, the judge said. He was not aware of another judge granting freezing orders based on a possible costs order from a successful injunction application. After a separate legal argument, Justice Feutrill rejected Austin’s attempts to restrict Ms Podulova sharing of documents with potential witnesses. “Ms Podulova should not be hamstrung in the preparation of her case,” he said. “Why shouldn’t be she be able to consult an expert witness?” Austin barrister Sam Hallahan claimed that the quality of writing, expression and punctuation indicated the Ms Podulva was being assisted by other people. Mr Hallahan said Austin was concerned there had been disclosure of confidential documents to “unnamed people”. Ms Podulova said she used phrasing tools when writing in English because it was not her native language. “Over the last three years I have read so much information and there are a lot of documents . . . that I used as template,” she said. Justice Feutrill said Ms Podulova and Austin should attempt to develop a regime for disclosure of material to her witnesses.