The Court granted leave to issue subpoenas to four non-parties in aid of a domestic commercial arbitration under s 27A of the Commercial Arbitration Act 2011 (Vic). [name withheld] confirmed that the Court must be satisfied of compliance with the statutory and rule requirements and that the subpoena is reasonable, but will defer to the arbitral tribunal's assessment that documents are relevant and sought for a legitimate forensic purpose, and will not 'second guess' the arbitrator's ruling. The Court also confirmed that such applications will usually be determined ex parte on the papers, without notice to other parties or addressees, to minimise cost and delay in the arbitral process.
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