Mayfield Development Corporation Pty Ltd v NSW Ports Operations Hold Co Pty Ltd
[2020] FCA 1334
At a glance
Source factsCourt
Federal Court of Australia
Decision date
2020-09-17
Before
Yates J
Source
Original judgment source is linked above.
Judgment (8 paragraphs)
- The application for leave to appeal dated 5 June 2020 be dismissed.
- The applicant pay the costs of the respondents and of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, the State of New South Wales, the Port Authority of New South Wales, Port of Newcastle Operations Pty Ltd, Port of Newcastle Investments (Property) Pty Ltd and Port of Newcastle Investments Pty Ltd of the application for leave to appeal.
- Leave be given to the respondents to file and serve written submissions limited to three pages on the question of the basis on which the costs awarded in their favour are to be assessed, such leave to be exercised by no later than 4.00 pm on 23 September 2020.
- Leave be given to the applicant to file and serve written submissions limited to three pages responding to the submissions referred to in Order 3, such leave to be exercised by no later than 4.00 pm on 30 September 2020.
- The question referred to in Order 3 be determined on the papers. Note: Entry of orders is dealt with in Rule 39.32 of the Federal Court Rules 2011.
Introduction 1 The applicant, Mayfield Development Corporation Pty Ltd, seeks leave to appeal from an order made by the primary judge dismissing its application for non-party discovery. The circumstances in which the application was made to the primary judge are as follows. 2 On 10 December 2018, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (the ACCC) commenced proceedings against the respondents alleging contravention of s 45(2)(a)(ii) of the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (Cth) (the CCA) (the ACCC proceeding). 3 On 31 May 2019, the applicant commenced the primary proceeding against the respondents seeking a declaration to the same effect as that sought by the ACCC in the ACCC proceeding, and an order for damages pursuant to s 82 of the CCA. 4 On 15 July 2019, the respondents filed an amended interlocutory application seeking an order that the primary proceeding be stayed until determination of the ACCC proceeding or, in the alternative, an order that the applicant provide security for the respondents' costs of the proceeding. 5 Prior to the determination of the amended interlocutory application, the parties came to an agreement that the primary proceeding should be stayed on the basis that the ACCC proceeding involved several issues for determination that were threshold issues for the primary proceeding, with significant overlap in the factual allegations. Noting this reason, the primary judge made an order on 19 August 2019 that the primary proceeding be stayed until further order. It is appropriate that I set out the terms in which the stay order was actually made: THE COURT ORDERS THAT: 1. In respect of the amended Interlocutory Application by the Respondents dated 15 July 2019: a. The proceeding (NSD862 of 2019) be stayed until further order. b. There be liberty to apply. c. No order as to costs. THE COURT NOTES THAT: 1. The Respondents sought and have accepted the Applicant's revised consent orders for a stay of NSD862/2019 (Mayfield proceeding) pending determination of proceeding NSD2289/2018 (ACCC proceeding). 2. The parties have agreed to stay the Mayfield proceeding on the basis that the ACCC proceeding involves several issues for determination that are threshold issues with respect to the Mayfield proceedings, with significant overlap in the factual allegations. 6 The explanation for the notes accompanying the stay order is that, on being informed by the parties that they had reached agreement on a stay being granted, the primary judge requested that they provide a statement of reasons for their agreement. Obviously, the primary judge thought it important to record those reasons when making the stay order. Given the record that the primary judge made, there can be no doubt about the basis on which the stay was proposed and granted. There can also be no doubt that, in proposing the stay, the parties, and consequently the Court, contemplated that it would remain in force until the determination of the ACCC proceeding, subject to the liberty that had also been granted enabling the parties to make further application to the Court. 7 On 3 February 2020, the applicant filed an interlocutory application seeking an order that the stay be lifted. Its motivation for doing so was that it had funding to conduct the primary proceeding, which it did not have at the time the stay was granted. Importantly, until that time the absence of funding had not been advanced by the applicant as a reason for granting the stay. 8 On 5 March 2020, the primary judge dismissed the application to lift the stay: Mayfield Development Corporation Pty Ltd v NSW Ports Operations Hold Co Pty Ltd [2020] FCA 260. In refusing to lift the stay, the primary judge said that there would have been much to be said in favour of the ACCC proceeding and the primary proceeding being heard together. There was, however, no realistic prospect of that happening given that the preparation of the ACCC proceeding had, by then, advanced considerably and had been set down for hearing to commence on 12 October 2020. The primary judge said: 23 … If concurrent hearings are unachievable (which I consider probable) then no case management advantage is to be achieved by subjecting the respondents to the burden of separate but parallel case management procedures for the two proceedings. That is, the stay should be maintained so as to relieve the respondent of that undue burden which would prejudice their preparation for the ACCC proceeding, which should be heard and determined before the MDC proceeding. 9 On 18 May 2020, the applicant filed a further interlocutory application seeking an order varying the stay so as to permit it to file an amended originating application and an amended statement of claim. It also sought a variation to permit it to obtain orders for non-party discovery by the ACCC, the State of New South Wales and the Port Authority of New South Wales, and by Port of Newcastle Operations Pty Ltd, Port of Newcastle Investments (Property) Pty Ltd and Port of Newcastle Investments Pty Ltd (the Newcastle Respondents) (together, the Interested Parties). 10 On 22 May 2020, the primary judge made an order varying the stay to permit the applicant to file an amended originating application and an amended statement of claim. The primary judge otherwise dismissed the interlocutory application, with costs: Mayfield Development Corporation Pty Ltd v NSW Ports Operations Hold Co Pty Ltd (No 2) [2020] FCA 745. The primary judge found that the applicant's application for non-party discovery was profoundly premature. Her Honour gave three reasons for that finding: 3 First, I accept the submission for the Newcastle Respondents that the just, quick and cheap way of disposing of the current proceeding once the stay expires is for the parties to rely on as many as possible of the factual findings made in the civil penalty proceedings. However, the current application for discovery by non-parties assumes that all of the issues raised by the applicant's pleading will remain in dispute and will need to be proved by documentary or testimonial evidence at the trial, even after judgment has been delivered in the civil penalty proceedings. For this reason, I consider the present application inconsistent with the statutory purpose which is evident from s 83 of the CCA. 4 Secondly, but equally importantly, given the stay of these proceedings, no defence has yet been filed in this proceeding. Accordingly, issue has not been joined. It necessarily follows that the application for discovery by non-parties cannot meet the objective of r 20.11 of the Federal Court Rules 2011 (Cth) (Federal Court Rules) that an order for discovery will only be made to "facilitate the just resolution of the proceeding as quickly, inexpensively and efficiently as possible". In the absence of a defence, and having regard to the context set by s 83 of the CCA, it cannot be said that any of the parties to the present proceeding are in a position to know which issues are or are not in dispute, so as to evaluate the appropriateness of the documents sought to be discovered. 5 Thirdly, I accept also the submission for the Newcastle Respondents that this application does not meet the requirements of r 20.23 of the Federal Court Rules which provides that an application may only be made for documents that are "directly relevant to an issue raised on the pleadings or affidavits". As has been submitted, in circumstances where no defence has been filed, there has been no joinder of any issue on the pleadings, and, accordingly, there is no circumstance against which the criterion of direct relevance can be assessed. 11 It is important to bear in mind the context in which those findings were made. By agreement, the proceeding had been stayed on a particular basis. An application to lift the stay generally had been refused. The stay therefore remained in place on the same basis on which it had been granted. There had been no further change in circumstances. The matter in contest before the primary judge was whether, in those circumstances, non-party discovery should be ordered. If that application were to succeed, it would inevitably require the partial lifting of the stay. However, even if the stay were partially lifted for that particular purpose, it would otherwise remain in place. 12 It is also important to bear in mind that the primary judge's reasons for dismissing the application for non-party discovery were expressed cumulatively.