Rodriguez and Sons v Queensland Bulk Water Supply authority t/as Seqwater (No 14)

Rodriguez and Sons, the plaintiff, sued the Queensland Bulk Water Supply Authority trading as Seqwater, the defendant, in the Federal Court. The plaintiff sought damages for loss of profits due to a contamination event in the water supply. The defendant claimed that it was not liable for the contamination. The defendant sought to exclude certain documents from disclosure, claiming client legal privilege. The plaintiff opposed the claim of privilege and sought an order for the production of the documents.

The court considered whether the documents were subject to client legal privilege and whether the documents were prepared for the dominant purpose of obtaining legal advice. The court found that the documents were prepared for the dominant purpose of obtaining legal advice to advance the client's position in the anticipated litigation. The court also found that an employee of the defendant, who was also entitled to respond to a draft review report, created drafts of the report for the dominant purpose of obtaining legal advice.

The court concluded that the documents were protected by client legal privilege and could not be disclosed. The court found that the dominant purpose test was satisfied because the documents were created to obtain legal advice to assist in the anticipated litigation. The court also found that the employee's right to respond to the draft review report did not affect the claim of privilege because the drafts were created for the dominant purpose of obtaining legal advice.

The court made an order that the documents claimed to be protected by client legal privilege were not to be disclosed to the plaintiff. The court also made an order that the defendant pay the plaintiff's costs of the application.