Galati v Potato Marketing Corporation of Western Australia (No 2)

In the Federal Court of Australia, Galati v Potato Marketing Corporation of Western Australia (No 2) was heard by Justice Gilmour. The applicants, Galati and others, sought orders for the respondent to provide additional discovery of documents in several categories. The applicants alleged that the discovery provided by the respondent was inadequate and sought further documents relating to decisions made by the respondent, actions taken against the applicants, and quality and supply of potatoes. The legal issues the court had to decide were whether the respondent had discharged its obligation to provide full and adequate discovery of documents under Order 15 r 2(3) of the Federal Court Rules, and if not, what orders should be made to compel further discovery. The court found that the respondent had not conducted a reasonable search for several categories of documents due to the significant burden, time, and cost involved, and had failed to comply with Order 15 r 2(6) by not including a statement of the categories not searched for and the reasons why. Justice Gilmour held that the respondent's failure to conduct a reasonable search for these categories of documents was not justified given the nature and complexity of the proceedings. The court ordered the matter to be adjourned to a date to be fixed to allow for further discovery and consideration of the application.