Background
In this commercial proceeding, the Court had previously ordered discovery of bank statements showing payments received in respect of projects and payments made for project materials, labour or other expenses. The applicant produced bank statements with entries outside that category redacted.
The first respondent objected, saying the applicant had given no prior notice of the redactions and that the discovery order did not permit them. He sought an order that documents be produced without redaction except for legal professional privilege, unless the parties agreed otherwise.
The Court’s Holding
Justice Jackman clarified the discovery order to permit redactions for legal professional privilege and irrelevance, provided that redacting irrelevant material does not detract from a proper understanding of the relevant parts of the document.
Although the earlier order did not expressly qualify production of the bank statements, the Court held that its category identified the relevant aspects of those statements. Because bank statements record transactions as separate line items, redacting unrelated entries would not, in the Court’s view, impair understanding of the unredacted entries.
Key Takeaways
- A discovery order ordinarily requires production of the whole document unless it contains a relevant qualification, the parties agree otherwise, or the Court grants relief.
- Redactions for privilege are distinct from redactions based on irrelevance.
- Irrelevant bank-statement entries may be redacted where their removal does not affect understanding of the relevant transactions.
Why It Matters
The decision confirms that discovery categories can support targeted redactions where the nature of the document allows irrelevant material to be separated without losing context. For transactional records such as bank statements, that may reduce disclosure of unrelated financial information while preserving meaningful discovery.
It also underscores the value of expressly addressing redactions when discovery orders are made, rather than leaving the issue to be resolved after production.