Supreme Court New South Wales Medium Neutral Citation: Cox v Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Limited [2024] NSWSC 1549 Hearing dates: On the papers Date of orders: 2 December 2024 Decision date: 03 December 2024 Jurisdiction: Equity - Commercial List Before: Stevenson J Decision: Orders made for preliminary discovery Catchwords: CIVIL PROCEDURE – preliminary discovery – where plaintiffs may have cause of action against financial adviser – where plaintiffs seek non-party discovery – where defendant does not oppose orders sought Legislation Cited: Uniform Civil Procedure Rules 2005 (NSW) Category: Principal judgment Parties: Drusilla Elizabeth May Cox (First Plaintiff) Elizabeth Margaret Neil Seaman (Second Plaintiff) Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Limited (Defendant) Representation: Counsel: C Hamilton-Jewell (Plaintiffs) Solicitors: Talbot Sayer (Plaintiffs) File Number(s): 2024/406781 JUDGMENT 1. This is a very clear case for the making of an order under Uniform Civil Procedure Rules 2005 (NSW), r 5.4, for non-party discovery. 2. The plaintiffs, who are a mother and daughter, apprehend that they have been defrauded by their financial adviser. 3. They seek non-party discovery from the financial adviser's bank of statements and other records which may enable the plaintiffs to understand what has become of funds that they placed with the financial adviser for investment. 4. Appropriately, the bank took a neutral stance and neither consented to nor opposed the orders sought. 5. I made those orders on 2 December 2024. ********** DISCLAIMER - Every effort has been made to comply with suppression orders or statutory provisions prohibiting publication that may apply to this judgment or decision. The onus remains on any person using material in the judgment or decision to ensure that the intended use of that material does not breach any such order or provision. Further enquiries may be directed to the Registry of the Court or Tribunal in which it was generated. Decision last updated: 03 December 2024