The defendants brought a motion to compel answers to undertakings and refusals arising from the plaintiff’s examination for discovery in a commercial dispute alleging breach of contract, breach of fiduciary duty, and misuse of proprietary information following the departure of key employees to a competitor.
The court applied the relevance principles under Rules 31.06 and 30.02 of the Rules of Civil Procedure and the governing jurisprudence on discovery scope.
Some questions and undertakings were ordered answered where they were relevant to damages, business dealings, or the alleged misuse of confidential materials, while others were refused as speculative or unrelated to the pleaded issues.
The court also addressed requests for commercially sensitive documents, ordering production of certain manuals and a DVD containing returned documents subject to a confidentiality agreement but rejecting a “counsel eyes only” restriction.
The plaintiff was ordered to provide outstanding undertakings and answers within 45 days and to attend for a further seven hours of discovery.