10 Jun 2021
The intended plaintiff was entitled to discovery without imposed confidentiality conditions; the intended defendants' initial opposition made the application necessary and unsuccessful resistance to unconditional disclosure justified an award of costs to the applicant on a category 1B basis together with recoverable disbursements of $900.20.
26 Nov 2019
Access to formal court records that record judicial decisions (judgments, minutes) and the last versions of pleadings was granted because transparency and the principle of open justice outweighed confidentiality concerns, but access to materials supporting procedural applications and their evidence was refused because those materials contained private and commercially sensitive information and there was little public interest in disclosure given the availability of the judgments.
7 May 2019
Because the proceeding was at an early interlocutory stage with no statement of defence filed, and because unresolved jurisdictional issues and a mutual confidentiality agreement created a real risk of one-sided and prejudicial reporting, the judge limited pre-hearing disclosure: documents requested by the media were not released before the 20 May 2019 interlocutory hearing; the statement of claim and, when filed, the statement of defence may be released to the media subject to any directions of the trial judge.
24 Jul 2009
The court held that the McVeigh legal opinion remained privileged (s54) because limited public references did not disclose substantive content and did not amount to waiver under s65; the Robb expert report had been sufficiently used and was to be produced; communications with IMF and documents compiled for the dominant purpose of litigation attracted litigation privilege (s56) and were protected; the production application was dismissed (subject to agreed limited disclosures) and a stay of the proceeding against all defendants was granted pending the outcome of the intended appeal to avoid co…
1 Jun 2007
Kensington Swan is entitled to solicitor and client costs reasonably incurred in locating, extracting and making available the requested documents, corresponding with the Crown to confirm ownership, and arranging inspection and copying; it is not entitled to be reimbursed for time spent researching or reviewing the documents for legal privilege or confidentiality or for unnecessary research into ownership. Kensington Swan must submit an amended invoice with task breakdown and personnel, and the court will fix any remaining dispute.