NSW Government Bulletin - 1 July 2015

There are probably no two more universal aspects of practice for Government lawyers than dealing with subpoenae and claims of privilege. In this edition we look at two recent decisions involving local councils dealing with just such issues.

In Sutherland Shire Council v Benedict Industries Pty Ltd (No 5) [2015] NSWLEC 103 her Honour Justice Pepper considered an application by the Council for its reasonable losses and expenses in compliance with certain paragraphs of a subpoena issued by Benedict. This was in circumstances where the Council had in three separate proceedings charged Benedict with five environmental offences.

The issue for consideration for the Court was whether Rule 33.11(1) of the Uniform Civil Procedure Rules 2005 (UCPR), which provides that the Court may order the issuing party of a subpoena to pay the amount of any reasonable loss or expense incurred by the receiving party in complying with the subpoena, had been supplanted by section 257B of