In brief - Supreme Court decision in Sprayworx v Homag
provides further guidance
The Supreme Court of NSW recently held that privilege in a
communication will not be waived or lost if the communication has
not influenced the content of an expert witness's final
report.
Communications between expert witnesses and their instructing
solicitors
In New South Wales, communications between an expert witness and
their instructing solicitors are, as a general rule, not
discoverable on the grounds of privilege. However there are
significant exceptions to that rule.
The Supreme Court has recently given some further guidance on
this difficult subject. In a recent case,
Sprayworx Pty Ltd v Homag Pty Ltd [2014] NSWSC 833,
the court decided that privilege in a communication will not be
waived or lost if the communication has not influenced the content
of the expert's final report, or may have influenced it but in
relation only to form or peripheral matters.
