Woolner v South Western Sydney Local Health District [2023] NSWSC 748 (on Caselaw).
Rather long for an interlocutory decision, this judgment deals with a subpoena issued following a defendant’s service of a proposed amended defence raising limitation (long stop) expiry issues. The plaintiff sought to subpoena “All correspondence, documents, advices, file notes, costing records, WIP ledgers, memoranda, documents or minutes of meetings held in relation to obtaining instructions, the preparation of and the filing of the Defendant’s Defence filed on 15 March 2022.” That was an earlier defence in which expiry of the limitation period was not pleaded.
The subpoena was set aside as on the basis that any communications or documents about, concerning or revealing instructions or why a defence was pleaded as it was, directed to a party’s solicitors, are privileged under provisions of the Evidence Act
The defendant’s application for leave to file the proposed amended defence is to be heard in mid July 2023.
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