Trans Tasman Energy Group Pty Ltd v State of SA & Ors

[2025] SASCA 147

Supreme Court of South Australia - Court of Appeal

Built by Barristers,
For Australian Law.

1. Appeal and New Trial
2. › Appeal
3. › General Principles
4. › Right of Appeal
5. › When Appeal Lies
6. › From Interlocutory Decisions
7. › Leave to Appeal
1. Procedure
2. › Civil Proceedings in State and Territory Courts
3. › Discovery and Interrogatories
4. › Discovery and Inspection of Documents
5. › Discovery of Documents
6. › Application and Order for Further and Better Discovery
1. Procedure
2. › Civil Proceedings in State and Territory Courts
3. › Discovery and Interrogatories
4. › Discovery and Inspection of Documents
5. › Direct Relevance
6. › Determination by Reference to Pleadings
1. Evidence
2. › Privilege
3. › Legal Professional Privilege
4. › Waiver
5. › Implied Waiver by Pleading

Direct relevance for specific discovery under UCR r 73.15 is determined by reference to the pleadings; a party that has not positively pleaded a case (e.g., that a subsequent consultant's report incorporated its earlier work with consequential causative effect) cannot rely on a deemed denial under UCR r 67.7(4) to plead documents into relevance for discovery purposes.
A primary judge addressing an application for specific discovery may engage with the merits of a party's assertions where that party relies on matters said to arise by implication from the pleadings, without thereby impermissibly forecasting the ultimate result of the case.
Pleading reliance on an expert report as factual evidence in a defence does not waive privilege over the underlying briefing materials, working documents and correspondence connected to that report, where the party has not brought a case about the contents of those materials or necessarily laid them open to scrutiny.