King's / Queen's Bench Division of the High Court

KB-2022-003316 - [2025] EWHC 1716 (KB)

Fecha: 11-Jul-2025

C: Disclosure

C: Disclosure

27.

The First CMC order required the parties to give standard disclosure. The parties exchanged disclosure lists on 21 March 2025.

28.

The test for standard disclosure is provided in CPR 31.6. Save for documents that are specifically required to be disclosed by a practice direction, standard disclosure requires a party to disclose only:

“(a)
the documents on which he relies; and
(b)
the documents which –
(i)
adversely affect his own case;
(ii)
adversely affect another party’s case; or
(iii)
support another party’s case.”

29.

The approach adopted by Associated – in what I accept has been an onerous disclosure process – has been explained in the 9^th Witness Statement of Francesca Richmond, a solicitor at Baker McKenzie. As summarised in its written submissions for the hearing, Associated has carried out searches for and, when located, disclosed:

(1)

any document containing references to blagging, phone tapping, phone hacking or burglary to order or synonyms of the same, or the use of private investigators or other such third parties to carry out such work;

(2)

any document relating to obtaining any of the following categories of information or subject matter: occupancy searches; flight records (including contact with flight operators or travel agents); ex-directory phone numbers; medical information or contact with medical professionals; financial information (including bank details); phone (mobile or landline) or other bills; call logs; live content of telephone conversations; voicemails; vehicle records; criminal records checks; payments to public officials; social security numbers and/or traces;

(3)

any document showing a payment or instruction to a Pleaded TPI in respect of any Claimant or his/her pleaded associates during the relevant targeting period identified by each Claimant;

(4)

any document showing a payment to a Pleaded TPI referring to a Pleaded Journalist;

(5)

any document – in a period one week before the publication until the end of one calendar month following publication – showing a payment or instruction to a Pleaded TPI in respect of the subject matter of any of the Schedule B or Schedule C Articles (“the Pleaded Articles”), unless it was clear from the face of the document that it did not relate to a Pleaded Article; and

(6)

any document evidencing the sourcing of any Pleaded Article.

30.

Some of the documents, disclosed by the parties, were redacted. The extent of Associated’s redactions to documents it has disclosed has been challenged by the Claimants (see Section E(2) below).