McLaughlin v Dungowan Manly Pty Ltd [2009] NSWSC 1501

New South Wales Supreme Court

CITATION : McLaughlin v Dungowan Manly Pty Ltd [2009] NSWSC 1501

HEARING DATE(S) : 15 June 2009

JUDGMENT DATE : 14 July 2009

JURISDICTION : Equity Division

JUDGMENT OF : Ward J

DECISION : Notice of Motion dismissed

CATCHWORDS : PRACTICE AND PROCEDURE – application to set aside subpoena – r 33.4 Uniform Civil Procedure Rules 2005 – whether subpoena constituted an impermissible fishing expedition – whether documents sought to be produced were irrelevant to the main issues in the proceedings – consideration of various formulations of the test for relevance – mere relevance not enough to establish legitimate forensic purpose – consideration of whether subpoena as drafted is too wide, oppressive or uncertain – HELD – application to set aside subpoena dismissed – direct that scope of subpoena be limited as indicated in reasons

CATEGORY : Procedural and other rulings

Alister v R (1984) 154 CLR 404 Associated Dominions Assurance Society Pty Ltd v John Fairfax & Sons Pty Limited (1952) 72 WN (NSW) 250 Attorney-General (NSW) v Chidgey [2008] NSWCCA 65 Attorney-General (NSW) v Stuart (1994) 34 NSWLR 667 Carroll v Attorney-General (NSW) (1993) 70 A Crim R 162 Carter v Hayes (1994) 61 SASR 451 Commonwealth v Northern Land Council (1991) 30 FCR 1 Cosco Holdings Pty Limited v Commissioner of Taxation (1997) 37 ATR 432 Doyle v ASIC (2005) 227 CLR 18 Duke Group Limited (in liq) v Pilmer (1998) 27 ACSR 1 Kelly v Raymor (Illawarra) Pty Limited [1981] 1 NSWLR 720 Liristis v Gadelrabb [2009] NSWSC 441 Lucas Industries Limited v Hewitt (1978) 18 ALR 555 CASES CITED : Marsden v Amalgamated Television Services Pty Limited [1999] NSWSC 619 National Employers' Mutual General Insurance Association Ltd v Waind and Hill [1978] 1 NSWLR 372 Portal Software v Bodsworth [2005] NSWSC 1115 R v Ali Tastan (1994) 75 A Crim R 498 R v Gergis [2000] NSWCCA 508 R v Saleam (1989) 16 NSWLR 14 R v Taylor (2007) 169 A Crim R 543 Re Bird v Military Rehabilitation & Compensation Commission [2006] 91 ALD 691 Regina v Saleam [1999] NSWCCA 86 Roads & Traffic Authority of NSW v Conolly [2003] NSWSC 327 Saleam [1999] NSWCCA 86 Telstra Corporation Limited v Minister for Communications, Information Technology and the Arts [2007] FCA 1398 The Bell Group Limited (in liq) v Westpac Banking Corporation (No 9) (2008) 70 ACSR 1 Trade Practices Commission v Arnotts Limited (No 2) (1989) 21 FCR 306 Universal Press Pty Limited v Provest Limited (unreported, FCA, 14/07/89)