McGrath v HNSW Pty Limited (No 2) [2015] FCA 442

FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA

McGrath v HNSW Pty Limited (No 2) [2015] FCA 442 Citation: McGrath v HNSW Pty Limited (No 2) [2015] FCA 442

Parties: JOHN ALBERT BRUCE MCGRATH and VICKY ELIZABETH MCGRATH v HNSW PTY LTD, HORWATH MOTOR INDUSTRY SERVICES PTY LTD ACN 104 833 556 , DAVID ARTHUR COWPER, WAYNE KENNETH PEARSON and STAVROULA PAPADATOS

File number: NSD 1867 of 2012

Judge: GLEESON J

Date of judgment: 12 May 2015

Catchwords: PRACTICE AND PROCEDURE – application to set aside notice to produce – where discovery given of agreed categories of documents – where respondents sought certain documents to be included by discovery but applicants opposed inclusion – where respondents did not press for documents to be included in discovery order – whether documents satisfy apparent relevance test – whether notice to produce is abuse of process as impermissible substitute for application for further discovery – notice to produce not an abuse of process – documents sought relevant to question of loss suffered by applicants – application dismissed – Federal Court Rules 2011 (Cth), r 30.28(1)

Legislation: Federal Court Rules 2011 (Cth), r 30.28(1)

Cases cited: Australian Competition and Consumer Commission v Shell [1999] FCA 212; (1999) 161 ALR 686 Azzi v Volvo [2006] NSWSC 283 Cheung Kong Infrastructure Holdings Ltd v BlueScope Steel Ltd [2010] FCA 739 Commissioner for Railways v Small (1938) 38 SR (NSW) 564 Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union v BHP Coal Pty Ltd (No 3) [2012] FCA 61 Diddams v Commonwealth Bank of Australia [1998] FCA 497 Lucas Industries Ltd v Hewitt (1978) 18 ALR 555 Seven Network Ltd v News Ltd (No 5) [2005] FCA 510; (2005) 216 ALR 147 Trade Practices Commission v Arnotts Ltd (No 2) [1989] FCA 248; (1989) 88 ALR 90