Director-General, Dept of Community Services v D [2006] NSWSC 827

Reported Decision : 66 NSWLR 582

New South Wales Supreme Court

CITATION : Director-General, Dept of Community Services v D [2006] NSWSC 827

HEARING DATE(S) : 14/08/06

JUDGMENT DATE : 17 August 2006

JURISDICTION : Equity Division Adoptions List

JUDGMENT OF : Brereton J

DECISION : Grant access to documents produced by Community Health Centre, subject to masking of privileged entries. Grant access to documents produced by Director-General in respect of which no claim for privilege made. Order that Director-General need not produce admittedly privileged documents. Grant access to other documents produced by Director-General subject to masking of privileged material. Refuse access to documents produced by Director-General from caseworker file which are subject to litigation privilege. Dismiss D's application for interrogatories.

CATCHWORDS : FAMILY LAW - Adoption - EVIDENCE - Privilege - Protected Confidences - where birth mother has made confidential statements to medical practitioner whose report she relies on – where report relies on those confidences - whether access should be refused - where issue is welfare of a child - where confider has forensically deployed the confidences via medical report - where disclosure necessary to scrutinise expert opinion which relies on them - Client legal privilege and litigation privilege - where some communications for purpose not of litigation but securing appropriate care - Waiver – where report refers generically to file but privileged entries not reasonably necessary to understand report - where some privileged communications are instructions to expert for report which has been served - INTERROGATORIES - where parties other than birth mother contend that child is settled and thriving with proposed adoptive parents and there is no contrary evidence - where applicant birth mother unaware of respondent proposed adoptive parents' and child's circumstances - where interrogatories seek to identify witnesses from whom documents might be subpoenaed bearing on circumstances of proposed adoptive parents and child - whether parenting capacity of proposed adoptive parents is a real issue - whether proposed interrogatories relate to a real issue in the case - whether fishing - whether necessary.