Cases

L v L and H (a firm)

Held

(1) Ordering delivery up to C’s solicitors, as the copies of the hard drive contained privileged and confidential information and had not been obtained in accordance with any order under CPR r25, the balance of justice lay in favour of C’s solicitors retaining the information. The Ds should not be able to benefit from their failure to obtain an order. ‘Reasonable fear of destruction,’ was not tenable in the present circumstances where C had left his laptop after leaving the former matrimonial home. Disclosure was to be conducted by the parties and their solicitors and should not be circumvented by those who seek ‘self help’ measures or take the law into their own hands.

(2) The application to transfer was refused: improperly obtained documents were treated the same way in both divisions; this issue was separate to any substantive financial proceedings; and transfer would be premature given that C’s application to set aside might be successful.

Also