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Editorial: Pre-Action Disclosure of Financial Documents in Credit Hire Cases - Aidan Ellis, Temple Garden Chambers

30/11/18. As long ago as 2004, in the course of carving out the impecuniosity exception in Lagden v O’Connor, Lord Nicholls expressed the hope that the parties “should be able to agree on standard enquiries, or some other means, which in practice can most readily give effect to the test of impecuniosity”. In practice, whilst most Courts now have a standard Order reflecting the disclosure required in credit hire cases, it has proved less easy to agree standard enquiries in relation to pre-action disclosure particularly regarding personal financial information.

In EUI Ltd v Charles and others (HHJ Harrison, 21 September 2018), the Applicant Insurer sought pre-action disclosure in relation to the potential Claimant’s financial documents in seven test cases. The Respondent countered that the disclosure sought was intrusive and premature. The Court concluded that...

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