Mullins v Workers' Compensation Regulator; Ex parte

QUEENSLAND INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS COMMISSION

CITATION:        

Mullins v Workers' Compensation Regulator; Ex parte Drake International Pty Ltd  [2019] QIRC 065

PARTIES:  

Drake International Pty Ltd  
(Applicant)

Mullins, Sharmayne
(Appellant)

v

Workers' Compensation Regulator
(Respondent)

CASE NO:

WC/2018/218

PROCEEDING:

Objection to Attendance Notice to Produce

DELIVERED ON:

HEARING DATE:

7 May 2019

17 April 2019

HEARD AT: 

Brisbane

MEMBER:

Industrial Commissioner Black

ORDER:

1.       Attendance notice to produce stayed pending filing of notices of facts and contentions

CATCHWORDS:

INDUSTRIAL LAW – OBJECTIONS TO ATTENDANCE NOTICE TO PRODUCE – objections to notice brought on various grounds including relevance and oppression - whether notice correctly issued under subdivision 7 of the rules.

CASES:

Workers' Compensation and Rehabilitation Act 2003 s 32

Industrial Relations (Tribunals) Rules 2011, subdivisions 7 and 7A

APPEARANCES:

Mr M Rawlings of Counsel instructed by HWL Ebsworth, for Drake International Pty Ltd;
Mr J Ludwig of Counsel instructed by Supportah Ops Pty Limited for Ms Mullins;
Ms S Young for the Workers' Compensation Regulator.

Decision

Introduction

1. The appellant in the substantive proceedings, Ms Mullins, has sought the production of documents by a non-party to the proceedings, Drake International Pty Ltd. A Form 32B – Attendance notice to produce (the notice) was filed in the Industrial Registry by Ms Mullins on 14 March 2019 and was subsequently served on Drake on 18 March 2019.

1. By way of correspondence filed with the Industrial Registrar on 25 March 2019, Drake has objected to the notice on a number of grounds including:  

·Oppressiveness;

·The expense and inconvenience likely to be incurred in complying with the notice;

·Legal professional privilege;

·Vagueness, imprecision and a lack of particularity in the description of documents sought;

·Lack of relevance to the substantive proceedings of the documents sought;

·The effect of the notice if complied with on other persons;

·The confidential nature of some of the documents.

1. The notice relates to an appeal filed on 10 December 2018 by Ms Mullins against a decision of the Workers' Compensation Regulator in which Ms Mullins' application for compensation was declined. Statements of facts and contentions have yet to be filed in the substantive proceedings. In these circumstances, the scope and nature of Ms Mullins appeal can only be comprehended by reference to her notice of appeal, including a copy of the Workers' Compensation Regulator's Review Unit decision dated 13 November 2018.

1. This constraint has led to an application by Drake that the notice to produce be stayed pending the lodgement in the substantive proceedings of the parties statements of facts and contentions.

1. The purpose or function of statements of facts and contentions as they are used in these proceedings was outlined by Martin P in Yousif v Workers' Compensation Regulator [2017] ICQ 004:

   [15] It is consistent with the requirements of s 531 for a party in an appeal under the Act to set out its case by way of a Statement of Facts and Contentions. It alerts the other party to the case it will have to deal with and…