Hired Guns and Smoking Guns: McCabe v British American Tobacco Australia Ltd

Abstract

Significant ethical and procedural issues raised in the case of McCabe v British American Tobacco Australia Services Ltd - history of events leading to the Supreme Court of Victoria decision, particularly the implementation of the controversial 'Document Retention Policy' - procedural issues, including the role and purpose of discovery, nature of the striking out remedy and extent to which the adversarial system might be to blame for some of the conduct of the defence and its solicitors - ethical issues raised in the case - close links between American and Australian tobacco litigation and the influence of American tobacco lawyers on their Australian counterparts - nature of the relationship between the defendant and its corporate legal advisors - national and international reactions to and ramifications of the decision.

Keywords: Discovery, Legal Ethics, Records Management, Tobacco Litigation, Public Health

JEL Classification: K00, K32, K40, K41