Mitic v Oz Minerals Limited

In the case of Mitic v Oz Minerals Limited, the primary proceeding is a representative action brought by Mr Mitic on behalf of the former shareholders of Zinifex. The shareholders are seeking damages from OZ Minerals, which was formed through a merger between Zinifex and Oxiana Ltd, on the basis of alleged breaches of duty by OZ Minerals, including failures to disclose material information relevant to the merger. The respondents, OZ Minerals, Oxiana, and Clayton Utz, have claimed legal professional privilege over certain documents related to the proceedings. The central issue before the court was whether the redacted parts of the seven representative documents were protected by legal professional privilege.

The court found that the redacted parts of the seven representative documents were clearly privileged. It held that the claims to legal professional privilege over the redacted parts of the seven documents were upheld, subject to certain conditions. The court did not make an order for Mr Mitic to pay the costs of the application, considering that OZ Minerals had abandoned its claims for privilege over a significant number of documents. The court also found that it was strongly arguable that privilege had been waived over passages in two of the documents. The court made several orders, including that OZ Minerals and Zinifex must serve a list of any further Challenged Documents in respect of which they no longer press their claims for legal professional privilege. It also granted liberty to all Challenging Parties to apply for the matter to be relisted for the determination of any remaining claims of legal professional privilege. The court reserved costs with respect to Allens’ challenge to the Zinifex claims for privilege and made no order as to the costs of Mr Mitic’s challenges to OZ Minerals’ claims for privilege.