Frontier Assets Pty Ltd v Fishburn

Mr Wavish's submissions 10UCPR 33.11 provides as follows: " 33.11 Costs and expenses of compliance (1) The court may order the issuing party to pay the amount of any reasonable loss or expense incurred in complying with the subpoena. (2) If an order is made under sub-rule (1), the court must fix the amount or direct that it be fixed in accordance with the court's usual procedure in relation to costs. (3) An amount fixed under this rule is separate from and in addition to: (a) any conduct money paid to the addressee, and (b) any witness expenses payable to the addressee." 11The rule does not require that the applicant for costs be the named recipient of the subpoena. The equivalent rule in the former Supreme Court Rules included a requirement that the person seeking to recover the costs of complying with a subpoena was necessarily the named recipient of the subpoena. Mr Wavish contends that the removal, or the absence, from UCPR 33.11 of the words "person named" as it appeared in former Part 37 Rule 9 gives effect to a clear intention to entitle parties other than the named recipient of the subpoena to claim compensation for loss and expenses incurred in complying with it. Mr Wavish submitted that such an approach was supported by judicial comments about the role of the court in ensuring that persons whose attention is required, and whose liberty is interfered with, in connection with the service of a subpoena should be compensated accordingly. See, for example, J Aron Corporation Pty Ltd v Newmont Yandal Operations Pty Ltd [2005] NSWSC 1280. Mr Wavish contended that the clear and unambiguous words of UCPR 33.11(1) made it clear that a party issuing a subpoena may become subject to a court order that it pay the amount of any reasonable loss or expense incurred in complying with the subpoena without limitation upon who the subpoena was issued to or how the loss or expense may have been incurred. 12Mr Wavish also contended that the Court in its inherent jurisdiction had power to order that the reasonable loss or expense incurred by Mr Wavish in complying with the subpoena addressed to his former solicitors, which he has paid or for which he would otherwise have been liable, were recoverable by him even notwithstanding that a subpoena was not addressed to him personally. See Danieletto v Khera (1995) 35 NSWLR 684 at 686-687. 13In support of these submissions Mr Wavish contended that a review by him, or on his behalf, of documents that were the subject of the subpoena issued to his former solicitors was or became a necessary part of discharging the obligations created by the subpoena. Accordingly, Mr Wavish ought to be entitled to recover his costs of doing so. By way of example, Mr Wavish submitted that the issue of a subpoena issued to his former solicitors necessitated the expenditure of costs by him because it was necessary for him to review documents to be produced in response to the subpoena to ensure that his claims for client legal privilege and confidentiality were identified and that appropriate steps to maintain and protect that confidence and privilege were taken.

The plaintiff's submissions 14The plaintiff submitted that neither the terms of UCPR 33.11 nor the inherent power of the Court authorised the making of an order in favour of Mr Wavish for the reasonable loss or expense incurred in complying with the subpoena to be paid to Mr Wavish. He was not a party named in the subpoena. He was not liable personally to comply with it. Any sanctions attaching to a failure by a named recipient of a subpoena to comply with its terms were not capable of applying to him. Any reasonable losses or expenses incurred by his former solicitors in complying with the subpoena addressed to them would have been recoverable by them from the plaintiff as the issuing party.

Consideration 15I am informed by counsel that there is no authority directly on point, either in favour of the contention that a third party may recover reasonable loss or expense incurred in complying with a subpoena or against it. In forming a view about the meaning and effect of any provision of the rules, such as UCPR 33.11, I am required to seek to give effect to the overriding purpose to facilitate the just, quick and cheap resolution of the real issues in dispute, when exercising any power given to me by the Civil Procedure Act 2005 or by the rules and when I interpret any provision of that Act or any such rule: s 56(2). 16Putting the present matter in that context, it seems to me to be somewhat technical, if not even artificial, to treat Mr Wavish's claim to be compensated for the reasonable loss and expense incurred by his former solicitors of complying with the subpoena as one that he cannot maintain because he is not the named recipient of it. It seems to me that Mr Wavish's involvement in the task of responding to the subpoena was a reasonable product of the terms of the subpoena that was issued. If his involvement in the task of responding to the subpoena was a reasonable product of the terms of the subpoena that was issued, it also seems to me to be reasonable to assume that he would meet the costs incurred by his solicitors. In this case the subpoena was directed, with only minor exceptions, to documents that were clearly referable to Mr Wavish's role and involvement in the relevant transaction: paragraph 10 of the subpoena was in a different category. The documents would appear to have been Mr Wavish's documents even if physically in the care or custody of his former solicitors. They were legally in the control of Mr Wavish. In that sense, I accept the submission that a subpoena addressed or directed to Mr Wavish personally for the same documents would have caught the documents that were physically in the hands of these solicitors. 17It is also not without significance in my opinion that UCPR 33.11 speaks of "loss or expense" rather than costs. The rule anticipates that an issuing party will be liable for the consequences of requiring work to be performed to answer a subpoena, to the end that an order of the Court might be complied with in the better administration of justice, and by implication that any party issuing a subpoena should only do so in the clear knowledge or expectation that any claim for the loss or expense occasioned by compliance with the subpoena will be directed to it. The amount to which the rule relates is expressed by the rule to be separate from conduct money paid to the addressee of the subpoena. More particularly, the expenses that may be compensated for include the cost of legal advice reasonably incurred in obtaining advice in relation to confidentiality and privilege issues concerning the subpoenaed documents: see, for example, Marsden v Amalgamated Television Services Pty Ltd [2001] NSWSC 77. That necessarily involves the need for the recipients of a subpoena, such as that issued in this case, to confer and consult with the real owner of the documents and to take instructions. It is to my mind artificial in the modern era of litigation to exclude a claim for loss or expense incurred by a former client of a firm of solicitors, issued with a subpoena to produce the former client's documents, when that client is necessarily and inevitably, if not at the very least highly likely to be, the ultimate bearer of the cost burden thus created. 18Finally, I consider that a comparison between the present rule and its predecessor indicates a legislative shift from only the limited recovery of "expense or loss" reasonably incurred by the person named in the subpoena, to a wider situation where the obligation of the issuing party to pay the amount of any reasonable "loss or expense" is incurred or undertaken at large. I consider that the Court's inherent power would in any event extend to the making of an order to compensate a person who reasonably incurred loss or expense in order to assist an addressee to comply with a subpoena to produce documents in the legal control of that person, even if UCPR 33.11 itself did not do so in terms. I consider that the rule, however, extends to cover the recovery of loss and expense reasonably incurred by a third party such as Mr Wavish as a result of a subpoena issued to his former solicitors for the production of his documents.

Orders 19Because there may be some benefit in hearing further from the parties about the form of the orders that I should make, I will ask them to bring in short minutes to reflect these reasons in due course.

DISCLAIMER - Every effort has been made to comply with suppression orders or statutory provisions prohibiting publication that may apply to this judgment or decision. The onus remains on any person using material in the judgment or decision to ensure that the intended use of that material does not breach any such order or provision. Further enquiries may be directed to the Registry of the Court or Tribunal in which it was generated. Decision last updated: 23 March 2011