Romani v State of New South Wales [2022] NSWSC 1086

Supreme Court New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation: Romani v State of New South Wales [2022] NSWSC 1086 Hearing dates: 29 July and 11 August 2022 Date of orders: 29 July and 11 August 2022 Decision date: 15 August 2022 Jurisdiction: Common Law Before: Lonergan J Decision: Orders made on 29 July 2022: (1) Paragraphs 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 14, 15, 16 and 17 of the Notices to Produce issued on the State of New South Wales signed by the first plaintiff on 19 April 2022 and served on the State of New South Wales on 29 April 2022 are set aside. (2) Paragraph 13 of the Notices to Produce is amended to read "All incident reports, COPS event reports, COPS information reports, handover/changeover records, audio recordings, video, notebook entries, diaries entries between 20 August 2021 and 24 August 2021 specific to New South Wales police officers attendance at [REDACTED], Warrazambil Creek in the State of New South Wales." (3) The State of New South Wales is to produce documents responsive to the amended paragraph(s) 13 above within 7 days by email to the plaintiffs at their address for service noting those records will be redacted and are permitted to be redacted so that any material irrelevant or outside the contents of amended paragraph 13 of the Notice because they are not related to the attendance referred to in the order 2 above, is unable to be seen. (4) The defendant is to file and serve its evidentiary statements on or before Friday 26 August 2022. (5) The plaintiffs are to file and serve any evidentiary statements in reply on or before Friday 9 September 2022. (6) The matter is listed for directions before Lonergan J at 9:30am on 15 September 2022. (7) Each party to bear its own cost of the Notice of Motion. Additional orders: (8) The Notice to Produce for inspection under r 21.10 is set aside in full. (9) Order 2 made on 29 July 2022 is set aside, and in lieu thereof, paragraph 13 of the Notice to Produce to the Court under r 34.1 is amended to read as follows: "All NSW Police orders, tasking documents, incident reports, COPS event reports, COPS information reports, handover/changeover records, audio recordings, video, notebook entries, diary entries, complaint letters, investigation reports, responses to complaints, relating to or arising from the attendance of officers Tony Fahey and David Rankin at [REDACTED], Warrazambil Creek in the State of New South Wales on 24 August 2021." (10) The State of New South Wales is to produce to the Court any further documents in response to the reworded paragraph 13 of the Notice on 15 September 2022 at 9:30am. (11) The plaintiffs are to pay the defendant's costs of the Notice of Motion. Catchwords: CIVIL PROCEDURE – notices to produce – notice to produce for inspection (r 21.10) – notice to produce to Court (r 34.1) Legislation Cited: Police Act 1990 (NSW) Uniform Civil Procedure Rules 2005 (NSW) Cases Cited: Air Canada v Secretary of State for Trade [1983] 2 AC 394 Alister v the Queen (1984) 154 CLR 404, [1984] HCA 85 Department of Planning, Industry and Environment v Blacktown City Council [2021] NSWCA 145 Norris v Kandiah [2007] NSWSC 1296 Patonga Beach Holdings v Lyons [2009] NSWSC 869 Portal Software v Bodsworth [2005] NSWSC 1115 Waind v Hill & National Employers Mutual General Association Limited [1978] 1 NSWLR 372 Category: Procedural rulings Parties: Sanchia Romani (First Plaintiff) Maia Huxtable (Second Plaintiff) State of New South Wales (Defendant) Representation: Counsel: B Searson (Defendant)