Citation: [2026] EWHC 1522 (TCC)
Background
The underlying dispute related to an abandoned hotel development project. The claimant sought in excess of £180 million against the defendant in deceit.
As the directors did not give effective access to their phones to allow the claimant to comply with an order for disclosure to the independent reviewer, the claimant issued a third-party disclosure application within the existing proceedings. It also issued separate CPR Pt 8 proceedings against the directors seeking specific performance and/or a mandatory injunction under s.37 of the Senior Courts Act 1981.
The claimant argued that, as a principal, it was entitled at common law to require production of documents held by its former directors as agents, and that the directors were contractually obliged under the funding agreement to provide all reasonable assistance in the conduct of the litigation, including by providing access to their devices.
Decision
Constable J granted the application.
The court held that the directors, having used their personal mobile phones for communications about their principal’s affairs, were obliged to permit inspection of those devices so that relevant communications, including recoverable deleted messages, could be extracted and reviewed. The court rejected the directors’ arguments under art.8 of the ECHR, finding that any interference with their privacy rights was justified and proportionate when balanced against the proper administration of justice. It also held that the directors were in breach of their contractual obligation to provide reasonable assistance in order to comply with the claimant’s disclosure obligations.
The court granted final mandatory injunctive relief enforcing both the claimant’s common law and contractual rights, requiring the directors to deliver their personal mobile phones for independent review in order to comply with the claimant’s disclosure obligations.
Thomas Lazur (instructed by Hill Dickinson LLP) acted for the successful claimant in an application for two former directors to hand over their personal mobile devices to an independent reviewer for the purposes of compliance with a disclosure order in proceedings against the defendant.