Gebauer Nominees Pty Ltd v Hotrox Charcoal Co

The case of Gebauer Nominees Pty Ltd v Hotrox Charcoal Co involved an application by the applicant for inspection of property, delivery of samples and administration of interrogatories under the Commercial Arbitration Act 1985 (WA). The applicant sought these orders for the purposes of an arbitration under the Act concerning the respondent's claim for loss arising out of water damage in premises the applicant had leased to the respondent for the purposes of the manufacture of wood logs and charcoal briquettes out of jarrah sawdust. The applicant sought the orders to determine whether or not the respondent could have produced or sold briquettes under a contract for supply of them for use in Korea in barbeque restaurants. The application raised questions of the making of orders of the sort applied for, where concerns had been expressed by the person against whom the orders were sought that compliance with them would involve disclosure of trade secrets to the particular expert retained for the purpose by the person seeking the orders. The Court considered the principles that should govern the application, the evidence on which the application was to be determined, and the appropriate orders in this case. The Court found that there was indeed a reasonable or genuine basis for the concern of Mr Cole as to the risk of the information as to Hotrox's process not being kept confidential if Dr Franklin were involved, but that there were other and independent experts who would be able to perform the task sufficiently well with "no injustice from Dr Franklin not being able to inspect the premises", and "without injustice to Hotrox". The Court concluded that the appropriate orders in this case would be those that would permit the applicant to conduct the inspection, have the samples examined and consider the answers to the interrogatories, and then any such mediation should be with a view to a possible compromise of the remaining issues of the action.