Lowe v Lang [2000] NSWSC 302

Lowe v Lang [2000] NSWSC 302

Documents in the court's possession that are privileged (red tagged) remain protected from inspection; documents tagged as private and irrelevant (yellow tagged) are not shielded from access if they are not so remote from litigation as to be un-subpoenaable, and access to these should be granted unless they are also privileged.

Jurisdiction
Australia
Judgment Date
23 March 2000
Procedural Posture
Application for Access to Documents/subpoena / Interlocutory Decision
Outcome
Application for access to yellow tagged and non-red-tagged documents granted; application for access to privileged (red-tagged) documents refused.
Legal Topics
['legal Professional Privilege' 'subpoena' 'inspection of Documents' 'irrelevance of Documents' 'access to Court Documents']
['evidence' 'equity'] ['legal Professional Privilege' 'subpoena' 'inspection of Documents' 'irrelevance of Documents' 'access to Court Documents']

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Procedural Posture

Application for Access to Documents/subpoena / Interlocutory Decision

Legal Issues

  1. 1 ['Whether documents subpoenaed from former solicitor are privileged and should be withheld from inspection' 'Whether privacy or irrelevance of documents alone is a ground to refuse access']

Ratio Decidendi

Documents in the court's possession that are privileged (red tagged) remain protected from inspection; documents tagged as private and irrelevant (yellow tagged) are not shielded from access if they are not so remote from litigation as to be un-subpoenaable, and access to these should be granted unless they are also privileged.

Court Disposition

Application for access to yellow tagged and non-red-tagged documents granted; application for access to privileged (red-tagged) documents refused.

Orders

  • ['Access to documents within MFI 6 bearing yellow tags or now without tags is granted.' 'Access to red-tagged documents, including MFI 9, is refused at this stage.' 'Privileged documents will be placed into a specifically marked envelope (MFI 10) and withheld from access.']