State Bank of South Australia (Respondent) v Smoothdale No 2 Ltd (Appellant) No. SCGRG 91/2884 Judgment No. 5070 Number of Pages 8 Discovery and Interrogatories (1995) 64 Sasr 224

In the Supreme Court of South Australia, State Bank of South Australia (Respondent) filed a lawsuit against Smoothdale No 2 Ltd (Appellant). The Respondent sought an order for the Appellant to produce certain documents, which the Appellant refused to do, citing legal professional privilege. The Appellant's application for an order was dismissed by Duggan J, and the Appellant appealed this decision. The key issue was whether the documents in question were protected from production by legal professional privilege. The Court found that the documents were privileged until they were delivered to other parties in compliance with a court order, and that their delivery did not constitute a waiver of privilege. The appeal was dismissed.

The Court held that the documents in question, being statements of witnesses, were privileged when they were created. This privilege remained intact until the documents were delivered to other parties in compliance with a court order, which required the disclosure of such documents for the purposes of the just, quick, and cheap disposal of the proceedings. The Court held that the delivery of these documents did not amount to a waiver of privilege, as the purpose of the order was to facilitate the hearing and not to make the documents public or to use them in a manner incompatible with the retention of confidentiality. The Court further held that there was no unfairness to the Appellant in the Respondent maintaining its privilege over the documents, and that the maintenance of privilege would not deprive the Appellant of a fair trial. The appeal was dismissed, and the original decision of Duggan J was upheld.