Blackrock Asset Management Australia Services Ltd v Waked (No 2)

In the case of Blackrock Asset Management Australia Services Ltd v Waked (No 2), the primary dispute centred around access to documents produced under subpoena, the application to set aside parts of subpoenas, the application for further discovery, and the request to take evidence by video link. The court was required to decide on various legal issues, including the application of legal professional privilege, the relevance of material sought under subpoena, the principles relevant to general discovery, and the requirements for taking evidence by video link.

The court first examined the claim for legal professional privilege, applying the dominant purpose test. It concluded that the evidence provided was insufficiently specific, leading to the dismissal of the claim for privilege in relation to certain documents. The court also considered the relevance of the material sought under subpoena and determined that certain paragraphs of the subpoenas were irrelevant, thus setting them aside. Regarding the application for further discovery, the court found that the applicants had not made out a case for general discovery under Federal Court Rules O 15 r 2, leading to the dismissal of the motion. Finally, the court assessed the application to take evidence by video link and found that while there were compelling reasons for such an order, the applicants had not sufficiently demonstrated the necessity or the absence of significant impediments to its use. Consequently, the motion for video link evidence was dismissed.

The final orders of the court included granting the applicants access to specific documents while denying access to others over which a claim of privilege had been made, setting aside certain paragraphs of the subpoenas, dismissing the motions for further discovery and for taking evidence by video link, and awarding costs to the respective parties as outlined in the judgment.