Rosington and Rosington

In the matter of *Rosington and Rosington*, heard before Stevenson J, the dispute concerned objections raised by the mother to subpoenas issued by the Independent Children's Lawyer and the father to the Commissioner of Police, New South Wales Police Service. These subpoenas sought extensive records pertaining to the mother, Ms Rosington, and also to Ms Dean and Ms Fry in relation to the subpoena issued on behalf of the father.

The central legal issues before the court were whether the subpoenas, as issued, were overly broad and constituted an improper fishing expedition, and whether the requested documents were relevant to the proceedings. The court was required to consider the scope of permissible discovery in family law proceedings, particularly concerning police records, and the principles governing the issuance and execution of subpoenas.

Stevenson J upheld the mother's objections to both subpoenas. The reasoning applied was that the subpoenas sought a wide range of police records without sufficient particularity or demonstrated relevance to the specific issues in the family law proceedings. The court found that the requests were too broad and amounted to an attempt to conduct a general investigation into the individuals' backgrounds rather than seeking specific, relevant evidence. Consequently, the court ordered that the objections be upheld, thereby preventing the disclosure of the broad categories of records sought by the subpoenas.