Outline Planning Consultants Pty Limited v. Maclean Shire Council [1998] NSWLEC 89

Land and Environment Court of New South Wales

CITATION : Outline Planning Consultants Pty Limited v. Maclean Shire Council [1998] NSWLEC 89 APPLICANT Outline Planning Consultants Pty Ltd PARTIES : RESPONDENTS Maclean Shire Council FILE NUMBER(S) : 10521 of 1998 CORAM: Pearlman J KEY ISSUES: :- LEGISLATION CITED: Evidence Act 1995 ss 119, 131 Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979 Sevic v Roarty (Court of Appeal, 14 August 1998, unreported); CASES CITED: Akins and Ors v Abigroup Ltd (1998) 43 NSWLR 539); Trade Practices Commission v Sterling (1978) 36 FLR 244 Lockhart J, at p 245 DATES OF HEARING: 22/10/98 DATE OF JUDGMENT: 11/04/1998

APPLICANT Mr J J Webster, Barrister Woolf Associates

LEGAL REPRESENTATIVES: RESPONDENT Mr A M Hawkes, Solicitor Pike Pike & Fenwick

JUDGMENT: JUDGMENT

The present question for determination in these proceedings is whether the respondent may have access to certain documents produced in response to a notice to produce. The applicant claims the documents are either subject to client legal privilege under s 119 of the Evidence Act 1995 or are privileged as evidence of settlement negotiations under s 131 of that Act.

A preliminary issue arises as to whether or not the Evidence Act applies derivatively to interlocutory proceedings such as these, which are pre-trial processes and do not at this stage involve adducing evidence at the trial. This issue is not completely settled (see Sevic v Roarty (Court of Appeal, 14 August 1998, unreported), Akins and Ors v Abigroup Ltd (1998) 43 NSWLR 539). However, the parties have not objected to the question being determined on the basis that the principles of the Evidence Act exclusively apply, and I am content to proceed on that basis.