Shoal Bay Developments Pty Ltd & Anor v Port Stephens Council

Land and Environment Court New South Wales Medium Neutral Citation: Shoal Bay Developments Pty Ltd & Anor v Port Stephens Council [2015] NSWLEC 1557 Hearing dates:1 April 2015Date of orders: 01 April 2015 Decision date: 01 April 2015 Jurisdiction:Class 1Before: Registrar Gray Decision: Directions made Catchwords: Notice to Produce – Privilege claimed – Application for access to inspect – Legal Professional Privilege – Relevance Legislation Cited: Civil Procedure Act 2005 Cases Cited: Shoal Bay Developments Pty Ltd v Port Stephens Council [2015] NSWLEC 1556 Waind v Hill & National Employers’ Mutual [1978] NSWLR 372 Category:Consequential orders (other than Costs)Parties: Shoal Bay Developments Pty Ltd (First Applicant) Snoogal Pty Ltd (Second Applicant) Port Stephens Council (Respondent) Representation: Counsel: Mr M F Fozzard (Applicants) Solicitors: Local Government Legal (Respondent) File Number(s):10732 of 2014Publication restriction:NoJUDGMENT REGISTRAR: These proceedings have been before the Court on a number of occasions concerning notices to produce issued to the Council and a subpoena issued to GHD Pty Ltd. Whilst no application has been made concerning those processes, there has been some dispute between the parties in relation to claims for privilege over the documents. Whilst the issue was first raised before the Acting Registrar on 5 December 2014, the matter came before me on 29 January 2015, on which date the applicants indicated that they would be seeking access to the material produced by the respondent over which the respondent had claimed privilege. On 5 February 2015 I then heard an argument regarding the claim for privilege...