Lynx Engineering Consultants Pty Ltd v The ANI Corporation Limited trading as ANI Bradken Rail Transportation Group (No 4) [2010] FCA 1114

Lynx Engineering Consultants Pty Ltd v The ANI Corporation Limited trading as ANI Bradken Rail Transportation Group (No 4) [2010] FCA 1114

Leave was granted because the interrogatories were far more confined than those considered in Austal Ships, were directly referable to specific identified and discovered documents, and had an evidentiary foundation; they were not fishing and did not impermissibly seek to go behind the affidavit of discovery, although modifications were required to narrow their form.

Jurisdiction
Australia
Judgment Date
14 October 2010
Procedural Posture
Practice and Procedure Application for Leave to Administer Interrogatories / Motion for Leave to File and Serve Notice Requiring Answers to Interrogatories
Outcome
Application for leave to administer interrogatories granted subject to modifications; fourth respondent ordered to pay the applicant's costs of the motion.
Legal Topics
['interrogatories' 'discovery' 'leave to Administer Interrogatories' 'federal Court Rules']
['civil Procedure'] ['interrogatories' 'discovery' 'leave to Administer Interrogatories' 'federal Court Rules']

Case Brief

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Procedural Posture

Practice and Procedure Application for Leave to Administer Interrogatories / Motion for Leave to File and Serve Notice Requiring Answers to Interrogatories

Legal Issues

  1. 1 ['Whether Lynx should be granted leave to administer disputed interrogatories to WorleyParsons.' 'Whether the disputed interrogatories were impermissibly fishing, sought discovery, or sought answers already given by answers to more general questions.' 'Whether the interrogatories should be permitted only with modifications.']

Ratio Decidendi

Leave was granted because the interrogatories were far more confined than those considered in Austal Ships, were directly referable to specific identified and discovered documents, and had an evidentiary foundation; they were not fishing and did not impermissibly seek to go behind the affidavit of discovery, although modifications were required to narrow their form.

Court Disposition

Application for leave to administer interrogatories granted subject to modifications; fourth respondent ordered to pay the applicant's costs of the motion.

Orders

  • ["The applicant do have leave to file and serve upon the fourth respondent a notice requiring the fourth respondent to answer the interrogatories set out in the Notice to Answer Interrogatories annexed to the applicant's motion of 24 August 2010 as amended in the manner set out in these reasons." 'The fourth...