Shoreform (Qld) Pty Ltd v Millenium Coal Pty Ltd

In Shoreform (Qld) Pty Ltd v Millenium Coal Pty Ltd, the Federal Court of Australia considered a dispute regarding the discovery of documents by the respondents, Millenium Coal Pty Ltd and Peabody Australia Mining Pty Ltd. The applicant, Shoreform (Qld) Pty Ltd, sought an order for standard discovery, requiring the respondents to discover all documents within their custody, control, and power within certain categories listed in a letter dated 27 November 2012. Alternatively, the applicant sought an order that the respondents serve an amended list of documents of standard discovery. The applicant also sought, as a fallback position, an order for particular discovery, being discovery of the material sought in accordance with the written submissions.

The court considered the claims made by the applicant and found that most of the claims were either abandoned or not the subject of specific submission. The court held that the respondents had conducted a reasonable search and that the applicant had not satisfied the court that there were reasonable grounds for being fairly certain that there were other directly relevant documents. The court also rejected the applicant's argument that a large number of documents should have been discovered because those documents were referred to in the documents which the respondents had discovered. Instead, the court held that whether or not a document is discoverable for relevance must be assessed by whether or not it is directly relevant to the issues raised by the pleadings.

The court did, however, order the respondents to file a further affidavit under rule 20.22 having conducted a further specific search, deposing to the results of that search, and including further discovery of any resulting documents in relation to certain items listed in the applicant's submissions. These items included the respondents' assessment for Commercial Concrete Constructions Queensland Pty Ltd's invoices Q027 and Q030, any documents relied on by Mr Cameron Vorias, the author of the letter dated 21 April 2006, in making the statement that Millenium Coal Pty Ltd had undertaken to pay all commitments made on the Millennium project since 1 December 2005, any documents in relation to contract no 3145, and the payment certificate of invoice Q30.

In conclusion, the court dismissed the applicant's interlocutory application with the exception of the orders outlined above. The applicant was also ordered to pay the respondents' costs of the interlocutory application.