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Commercial litigation - the sending of draft witness statements to a person's solicitors for a particular purpose had involved a very limited waiver of privilege
10 October 2011
On 7th October 2011 the Court of Appeal found that where there were two claims, in separate proceedings, between the same parties, the sending of draft witness statements on one claim did not waive privilege of those statements on the related claim - there was not a general waiver of privilege. The question of whether the waiver was limited, and if so, to what degree, had to be determined by the circumstances of the case. In this case it was found that waiver only related to the proceedings in which the statements were sent.
Berezovsky v Hine & Others [2011] EWCA Civ 1089
Howell Jones' Litigation Team will be happy to advise upon any question of waiver, or indeed, any other matter related to commercial litigation. Please feel free to contact them for an exploratory discussion.
Andrew Petchey, Partner, Litigation Team
