The High Court has ordered a claimant to disclose its lawyer’s attendance note (or notes) of discussions with one of the defendant’s employees, on the basis that the notes were “impliedly mentioned” in the claimant’s witness statement and the claimant had waived privilege: Scipharm SARL v Moorfields Eye Hospital Foundation Trust [2021] EWHC 2079 (Comm). … Read more

The High Court has granted an application by a claimant state for orders that the defendant bank disclose an accounting firm’s investigation report (and associated documents) originally withheld from disclosure on the grounds of litigation privilege, as well as to disclose certain categories of documents on a Model E or “train of enquiry” basis and … Read more

The High Court has held that the seller of certain companies could assert privilege against the buyer in respect of emails and documents in employees’ email accounts, despite the buyer having received wholesale access to those accounts as a result of the underlying transaction: ConocoPhillips Co v Chrysaor E&P Ltd [2021] 3 WLUK 524. The … Read more

The Court of Appeal has confirmed that, where one client to a joint retainer had assigned to a third party its claims against the jointly retained solicitors, the assignee (and its solicitors) were entitled to access the joint retainer file in order to pursue those claims, regardless of the other joint privilege holder’s objections. It … Read more

The Court of Appeal has upheld a decision that a pre-action letter sent by the claimant to a third party, and the third party’s response, were subject to litigation privilege as the claimant’s true purpose in instigating the correspondence was to obtain information for the present proceedings. The dominant purpose test was therefore satisfied, and … Read more

In a recent decision, the High Court has found that a pre-action letter sent by the claimant to a third party, and the third party’s response, were subject to litigation privilege, overturning the decision of the Master who had found that privilege did not apply. The court was satisfied that the true purpose of the … Read more

The Court of Appeal has upheld a High Court judgment which found that defendants could rely on WP statements made in a mediation position paper to rebut the claimants’ allegations that a settlement agreement apparently concluded should be set aside for fraud: Berkeley Square Holdings v Lancer Property Asset Management Ltd [2021] EWCA Civ 551. … Read more