Lewani Springs Resort Pty Ltd v Gold Coast City Council

[2011] QPEC 37

[2011] QPEC 37

PLANNING AND ENVIRONMENT COURT

JUDGE ROBIN QC

P & E Appeal No 2352 of 2010

LEWANI SPRINGS RESORT PTY LTD
(ACN 068 977 104)

Appellant

and

GOLD COAST CITY COUNCIL

RIX SUPER PTY LTD

WESTFIELD MANAGEMENT LIMITED

And

ALDI STORES (A LIMITED PARTNERSHIP

Respondent

First Co-Respondent by Election

Second Co-Respondent by Election

Fourth Co-Respondent by Election

BRISBANE

..DATE 22/02/2011

JUDGMENT

CATCHWORDS

Uniform Civil Procedure Rules r 488
Planning and Environment Court Rules 2010 r 3

Decision to order "Fielder Gillespie" production of documents made available to economic experts made informally without an oral hearing

HIS HONOUR:  This is Appeal 2352 of 2010, Lewani Springs Resort Pty Ltd v Gold Coast City Council and others. 

The court has been asked to deal “on the papers” with an application for an order which is sought by all parties in the appeal; it provides so-called Fielder Gillespie protection for documents which are to be made available to the parties' economic experts for the purposes of their formulating their expert opinions in the principal appeal. See Ex parte Fielder Gillespie Limited [1984] 2 Qd R 339. There's nervousness about dissemination of confidential information in the documents requested by the economic experts, or some of them, and it's appropriate for the court to provide protection in the form of the special Fielder Gillespie directions sought.

There will be an order in terms of the draft which I have initialled. It's pleasing that the parties have been able to achieve this inexpensively and without the necessity for any appearance in court. Rule 3(2) allows supplementation of the Planning and Environment court Rules 2010 by recourse to the rules that would apply in the District Court. Rule 488 of the UCPR confirms that the following rules authorising decisions without an oral hearing apply in the District Court.

I'll mark Exhibit 1 a printout of the emails from the solicitors for the various parties, which establish their attitude to the order that's been made.

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