Read v Chang

In the Supreme Court of New South Wales, Justice Cohen considered an application by trustees to set aside subpoenas issued by the husband to Z Pty Limited and M Pty Limited. The dispute concerned the production of documents by these companies in response to the husband's subpoenas.

The primary legal issue before the Court was whether the subpoenas should be set aside. This involved considering the proper scope of discovery and the protection of commercially sensitive information held by third parties.

Justice Cohen dismissed the trustees' application to set aside the subpoenas. The Court reasoned that the subpoenas were validly issued and that the documents sought were relevant to the proceedings. However, to protect the interests of the third parties and the confidentiality of the documents, the Court granted leave for both the husband and the wife to inspect the produced documents, subject to their providing written undertakings not to disclose the contents of the documents to anyone other than their legal advisors or as reasonably necessary for the conduct of the proceedings. Costs were reserved.