In the recent High Court judgment of UTB LLC v Sheffield United Ltd and others [2019] EWHC 914 (Ch), one of the issues to be decided concerned whether disclosure in the case fell under CPR part 31 or the new Practice Direction 51U.
UTB LLC v Sheffield United Ltd and others
This case relates to the shareholder disagreement concerning the ownership structure of Sheffield United Football Club.
Both parties involved in the dispute had assumed that CPR Part 31 applied to the disclosure application made on 14th March 2019 as an order for standard disclosure had been made before 1st January 2019, when the Disclosure Pilot scheme commenced.
During the application, counsel for Sheffield United drew the Court’s attention to the White Book at CPR 51.2.10, which outlined that:
“…the pilot does not apply to any proceedings where a disclosure order had been made before it came into force unless that order is set aside or varied.”
According to Sir Geoffrey Vos, Chancellor of the High Court, that part of that sentence was wrong, commenting:
“I am quite satisfied that the Pilot was intended to apply and does apply, to all relevant proceedings subsisting in the Business and Property Courts, whether started before or after 1st January 2019, even in a case where a disclosure order was made before 1st January 2019 under CPR Part 31”.
This on-going high profile case has highlighted that even in the scenario where an existing order for disclosure has been applied, that the Business and Property Courts will apply the regulations detailed in the new Practice Direction 51U, when deciding any subsequent applications for disclosure.
How Nelsons Can Help
If you would like advice in relation to the subjects discussed above, please contact a member of our Dispute Resolution team in Derby, Leicester, or Nottingham on 0800 024 1976 or via our online form.