Civil Procedure Rules: Case Law Examples

An updated article has been written, with additional case law examples and is available here.

Below are examples of case laws that relate to electronic disclosure, under the Civil Procedure Rules, Part 31

When is a document relevant?

• CPR 31.6 defines which documents should be disclosed
• Rowley v Liverpool City Council (1989) (comparative earnings)
• Loutchansky v Times Newspapers (2002) (statement of disclosure is conclusive)
• Paddick v Associated Newspaper Ltd (2003) (documents relevance determined by statements of the case,and nothing else)
• Marlton v Tektronix UK Holdings Ltd 2003 (disclosure of databases, backups tapes and servers)
• Atos Consulting Ltd v Avis plc (2007) (redaction allowed)

 

Duty to Search

• The duty to search for documents is defined by the Civil Procedure Rules 31.7
• Nicha Corporation v Argos Ltd (2007)

Preservation and Disclosure of all Documents

• Rockwell Machine Tool Co Ltd v E P Barrus