Thompson v Rosen

In the Federal Court of Australia, Thompson sought an order for the disclosure of documents from Rosen, the first defendant, who was a lawyer to the second defendant, a company. Thompson alleged that Rosen had acted negligently in the preparation of a trust deed. The second defendant sought an order for access and inspection of documents from Thompson, claiming that they were necessary to assess the merits of the claims against Rosen. The second defendant also sought costs of the motion for access and inspection.

The central issue before the court was whether the documents in question were protected by legal professional privilege and whether the second defendant was entitled to costs of his motion for access and inspection. The court examined the nature of the documents, the context in which they were created, and the purpose for which they were intended. The court concluded that some of the documents were protected by legal professional privilege and could not be disclosed to Thompson. However, the court also found that the second defendant was entitled to limited access to the documents to assess the merits of the claims against Rosen. The court found that the second defendant was entitled to costs of the motion for access and inspection, but the amount of costs was to be determined by the Registrar.

The court ordered that limited access be granted to the second defendant to inspect and copy the documents that were not protected by legal professional privilege. The court also ordered that the second defendant was to bear its own costs of the motion for access and inspection, but that the amount of costs was to be determined by the Registrar. The court did not make any further orders.