In this case, Catherine McComiskie, Patricia Mary Canning, and Paul Vincent Gleeson applied for a declaration that Paul Gleeson was validly appointed as a director of Gleeson Properties Pty Ltd. The company's constitution, which was adopted from the Companies Act 1961 with modifications, formed the basis of the legal arguments. The applicants argued that shareholders retained an inherent power to appoint directors by passing an ordinary resolution, while the respondents contended that the company's constitution excluded this power, vesting it solely in the directors under specific circumstances. Justice Crowley found that the constitution, as construed, implicitly excluded the shareholders' common law power to appoint directors through ordinary resolutions, confining such appointments to specific situations outlined in the articles. Consequently, the court dismissed the application and ordered each party to bear their own costs.
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