Seven opens door to cache of Cricket Australia documents

The Federal Court looks set to progress the court battle between Seven West and Cricket Australia to the next over.

Australia's captain Tim Paine and Steven Smith celebrate the dismissal of India's Rishabh Pant during the fifth day of the third cricket Test and India at the Sydney Cricket Ground in January. Picture: AFP

Seven West Media look set to clear the first hurdle in its legal battle with Cricket Australia to access thousands of emails and documents which lays the heart of an attempt by the broadcaster to claim relief for disruptions to the cricket season.

In the high stakes courtroom drama, Seven West was expected to win its bid for the case to be held in the Federal Court.

Lawyers for Cricket Australia had been seeking to argue the court did not have the jurisdiction to hear the case between Seven West and the sporting body.

“I’m reasonably confident I have jurisdiction,” Federal court judge Paul Anatassiou said.

If found in the broadcaster’s favour this would mean the court would then hear the discovery application by lawyers for Seven West that could open the door to a trove of thousands of emails and documents sent and received by Cricket Australia.

The broadcaster is claiming the changes to schedules for cricket games played in the season had a material impact to the “quality” of content and a subsequent hit to potential revenues.

Lawyers for Seven West are seeking access to the documents before it attempts to sue Cricket Australia for breach of the contract because of the schedule changes.

Seven West alleges the potential impact to the spectacle of the games would be revealed in communication by staff and members of Cricket Australia.

The broadcaster is seeking any communication between Cricket Australia, Australian federal, state, or territory governments, as well as the Board of Control for Cricket in India

Court documents name Cricket Australia executives Nick Hockley, Alistair Dobson, Peter Roach, Stephanie Beltrame, Richard Ostroff and Christine Harman as targets for the discovery application.

Cricket Australia countered the request for Seven by suggesting the request would be onerous as preliminary searches had identified at least 13,200 emails up to October 31 concerning the changes to the season.

But Justice Anatassiou slapped down the suggestion by Cricket Australia noting it was simply a question of appropriating “putting in various search terms” to ensure only relevant communication was found.

Seven West locked horns last year with Cricket Australia seeking financial relief for the $82m rights contract for the 2020-21 cricket season.

The broadcaster is smarting after its attempt to knock back the cost by $70m was instead dialled down to only $5.3m by an independent arbitrator.

This followed an earlier verbal offer by Cricket Australia that would have offered a $15m cash and contra discount over four years. However, that deal was reportedly rejected.

The case continues.