Chandler v Water Corporation

The case involved a dispute between Chandler and the Water Corporation, with the matter being heard in the Supreme Court of Queensland. Chandler sought an order for the discovery of certain documents, arguing that they were relevant to the pleaded issues. The Water Corporation opposed the application, asserting that the documents were not relevant and were protected by legal professional privilege. The court was required to determine whether an order for the discovery of documents could be made in respect of those that did not relate to the pleaded issues, and whether reliance upon "without prejudice" communications could be used to establish the existence of the documents in question. The court held that privilege applied and declined to make the order sought by Chandler.

The court considered whether the documents in question were relevant to the pleaded issues. It found that the documents did not relate to the matters at hand, and that the application for discovery was therefore misconceived. The court also noted that the Water Corporation had demonstrated that the documents were protected by legal professional privilege, which further supported the refusal of the order. The reliance upon "without prejudice" communications to establish the existence of the documents was found to be insufficient, as such communications could not be used to overcome the privilege that protected them. The court concluded that the application for further discovery should be refused, as it was not appropriate to make an order in respect of documents that did not relate to the pleaded issues and were protected by privilege. The court declined to make any further orders in relation to the application for discovery.