Wright Prospecting Pty Ltd v Hancock Prospecting Pty Ltd [No 18]

The Supreme Court of Western Australia, in the consolidated proceedings, dismissed the application by Hancock Prospecting Pty Ltd and others to dismiss or stay Bianca and John Hancock's discovery by categories application on the basis of abuse of process. The HPPL parties claimed that the Revised Stern Schedule application was brought for an improper purpose, namely for use in the Martin Arbitration, and that Bianca and John misused privileged materials inadvertently disclosed to their lawyers. Smith J found that Bianca and John were not seeking discovery of the documents for the Martin Arbitration, and that there was no evidence that they misused privileged materials. The court held that the principles of discovery in the Supreme Court were broader than the narrow test of direct relevance applied by the Martin Arbitration, and that seeking discovery of documents that were the subject of failed requests in the Martin Arbitration did not constitute an abuse of process. The court also found that the HPPL parties' arguments that the documents sought would be more likely to have forensic benefit in the Martin Arbitration, and that Bianca and John intended to use the documents for that purpose, were speculative and without merit. The court dismissed the HPPL parties' chamber summonses and found that the Revised Stern Schedule application should proceed.