‘Slug Gate’ case against Dandenong Council to continue after Supreme Court ruling

The boss of I Cook Foods has vowed “we’re not going to stop” as Greater Dandenong Council’s attempts to have his legal fight for damages thrown out of court were rejected.

Ian Cook’s Slug Gate fight lives on after Greater Dandenong Council failed in its bid to have the matter thrown out of court.

“We’re not going to stop,” Mr Cook said, after raising tens of thousands of dollars in donations to carry on his legal battle.

Mr Cook was forced to shut his I Cook Foods (ICF) business and lay off 41 members of staff in 2019 after a slug was allegedly planted on his premises by council officers.

The council later withdrew 96 food safety charges against Mr Cook and ICF.

Mr Cook is pursuing the council and its officers Leanne Johnson and Elizabeth Garlick for damages for malicious prosecution.

“They dropped the (food safety) charges because they said it was going to cost $1.2m,” Mr Cook said.

“They’ve now spent double that by not negotiating with me and trying to have the issue thrown out.”

Ian Cook’s Slug Gate fight will continue in court. Picture: Luis Enrique Ascui

Lawyers acting on behalf of the council claimed the matter should be dismissed because the council had previously been named, and then scrapped, as a defendant in a case Mr Cook brought against the state government.

That argument was rejected by the Supreme Court.

“I am not satisfied that in the circumstances of this case, the proceeding ought be dismissed or stayed as an abuse of process,” Associate Justice Caroline Goulden said.

Mr Cook said he had repeatedly contacted individual councillors in an attempt to resolve the matter outside of court, but those appeals had fallen on deaf ears.

“This is a civil dispute; if you have a dispute you sit down with the other party and negotiate,” he said.

“The way they’re doing it, they’re just making the lawyers rich with taxpayers’ money.

“I will now have the chance to settle the matter in court, and councillors will be committing perjury if they lie.”

Associate Justice Goulden ordered Dandenong Council to cover Mr Cook and ICF’s costs related to the application to have the case thrown out.

Mr Cook said he had repeatedly contacted individual councillors in an attempt to resolve the matter outside of court. Picture: Tim Carafa

ICF’s previous action against the state government resulted in a “bittersweet” victory for Mr Cook when the Supreme Court ruled former chief health officer Brett Sutton had closed his business with invalid orders over an allegedly contaminated sandwich.

However, the court dismissed Mr Cook’s claim for $50m in damages because no “reckless malfeasance” had occurred.

Mr Cook went on to finish second in the by-election for Daniel Andrews’ former seat of Mulgrave, behind Labor’s Eden Foster.

The disgruntled former catering boss has raised over $35,000 within days of launching a GoFundMe appeal to continue his war with the council.

“It blows me away, the support we’ve received,” Mr Cook said.

“I spoke to someone, a farmer up in Horsham who donated $1000.

“He donated because he sees me as fighting for him and Victorians.”

The case will return to the Supreme Court at a later date.

Greater Dandenong Council was contacted for comment.