English court ordered disclosure – an “information imbalance” not a reason to order the defendant to provide additional disclosure

The English court decision in Alame & Ors v Shell PLC (formerly known as Royal Dutch Shell PLC) & Anor [2024] EWHC 510 (KB), is relevant to the way that the court will approach disclosure in large scale litigation, including class actions and litigation being pursued under a Group Litigation Order.

The case relates to claims for damages arising from pollution in the Niger delta. The claimants had sought wide ranging disclosure arguing that the defendants had all the information on the pollution, while the claimants had very little.

The judge disagreed. He held that the disclosure requests amounted to a classic fishing expedition and that the touchstone for disclosure is that it should be done against the as-pleaded issues in the case. Moreover, an “information imbalance is not a sufficient reason to order disclosure”.

The key paragraphs are worth quoting in full:

23. As the Defendants accept, that does not mean the case is to halt or that there is not substantial disclosure to be made. There is. But it does require me to consider carefully what is relevant and proportionate now, by reference to the case as it currently is, and not as the Claimants would like it to be, or even as it may be in future. An information imbalance is not a sufficient reason to order disclosure, where relevance has not first been established. The observations of Fraser J in ordering specific disclosure of two documents in the Cavallari case are not to be understood as establishing a free-standing right to disclosure where one side has more information than the other. Relevance to pleaded issues must be the touchstone. Two examples from this case serve to demonstrate the difficulty of taking the general approach advocated by Mr Hermer: first, under Nigerian law there is strict liability for pollution arising from equipment failure. For such events, maintenance records will be irrelevant. Next, if, at the PI trial, I come to the same view as Akenhead J did in the Bodo litigation as to the proper meaning and effect of section 11 of the OPA – that there is liability provided negligence is shown – how is disclosure relevant to negligence in respect of third-party interference to be given where the individual events have not been identified?

24. Some of the documents sought may be relevant and (proportionately) disclosable for other reasons, but not on the sole basis that they might have information which might assist the Claimants in identifying which event(s) have caused an individual’s loss. That would be a classic fishing expedition. I repeat that the Claimants have chosen to bring a case based on multiple polluting events of many differing kinds occurring in a wide area over an extended period of time; it is for them to provide the necessary clarity so as to permit disclosure which is properly tethered to the issues. The Defendants are not to be expected to throw open the doors to their archives or to permit a general trawl through their records. The tail must not be allowed to wag the dog.

English court stays its own proceedings in favour of arbitration

Seven companies have a claim against their former director for breach of fiduciary duties. Three of those companies have an arbitration agreement.

All seven companies bring a claim in the English court against the former director who applies to have the court proceedings stayed in favour of arbitration.

The three claimants with an arbitration agreement concede that they must sue in arbitration, and the question then becomes whether the court claims by the other claimants should be stayed in favour of the arbitration or not.

Continue reading “English court stays its own proceedings in favour of arbitration”

High Court judgment handed down in highly anticipated case – Osbourne v Persons Unknown & Ors [2023]

By Charlyn Cruz and Sam Laycock

A highly anticipated judgment has been passed down from the High Court, allowing for service via Non-Fungible Token (NFT) on a defendant as the sole means of service. Osbourne v Persons Unknown & Ors [2023] EWHC 340 (KB) concerns Ms. Lavinia Osbourne, who sought to restrict the movement of two NFTs, which were misappropriated from her cryptoasset wallet in 2022. In the judgment, Mr Healy-Pratt (sitting as a Deputy High Court Judge) expanded on the comments made by Lavender J in his January 2023 judgment relating to the same case. Continue reading “High Court judgment handed down in highly anticipated case – Osbourne v Persons Unknown & Ors [2023]”

High Court Judgement On Restrictive Covenants & Garden Leave

By Nic Hart

22.05.2020

The Queen’s Bench Division of the High Court have held in Square Global Limited v Leonard that the absence of a garden leave set-off clause will not be fatal to a non-compete post termination restriction, touching on a the widely debated relationship between garden leave and non-compete clauses in employment contracts.

The case involved an employer’s attempts to enforce periods of garden leave and subsequent non-compete restrictions on an employee consecutively. The employee in question had resigned and in response claimed constructive dismissal on the basis that his employer had destroyed or seriously damaged the necessary relationship of trust and confidence between the parties, in breach of the implied term in the contract of employment. The High Court held on the facts that the employee was not entitled to resign summarily and by doing so, he had failed to give six months’ notice of termination and was in breach of his employment contract.

The employer sought to enforce a period of garden leave reflecting the six months contractual notice from the date of resignation, in addition to a further six months’ protection from the end date of that notice period on 11 May 2020 under the non-compete clause in the employee’s contract. This would effectively afford the employer a total of 12 months protection. The High Court were satisfied that the six month non-compete clause was pursuant to the employer’s legitimate business interests capable of requiring protection by restrictive covenants, and was reasonable, going no further than necessary to protect the employer’s legitimate business interests.

The High Court then went on to assert as follows:

“The garden leave clause which is included in the contract exists to cater, among other matters, for a situation where [the employer] has concerns about an employee’s conduct (e.g. harvesting client information, or engaging in deceptive behavior), and so chooses to restrict the employee’s duties during the notice period. On the assumption that such concerns have reasonable foundation, it would not then be unreasonable to enforce the full period of the post termination restrictions.” (Paragraph 191)

Continue reading “High Court Judgement On Restrictive Covenants & Garden Leave”

High Court Rules On The Effect Of Confidentiality Clauses In A Settlement Agreement

By Nic Hart

21.05.2020

The High Court have held in Duchy Farm Kennels v Steels that an employer cannot avoid paying out on a settlement where an employee is in breach of a confidentiality clause, unless confidentiality is genuinely a condition of the agreement.

Here, the employer agreed to pay the employee a settlement sum in instalments in full and final settlement of the employee’s employment tribunal claims. The COT3 agreement also included:

  • a clause under which the parties agreed to treat the fact of and the terms of the agreement as strictly confidential (‘the confidentiality clause’); and
  • a warranty that the employee had not previously disclosed the facts and terms of the agreement to any other person.

The employer subsequently did not pay the final instalment, and the (now former) employee issued proceedings for payment. The employer sought a declaration that the sums were no longer recoverable on the basis of breach of the confidentiality clause in the agreement. Continue reading “High Court Rules On The Effect Of Confidentiality Clauses In A Settlement Agreement”

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