High Court refuses to set aside or vary disclosure order despite risk of foreign criminal or regulatory sanctions

The High Court has refused to set aside or vary an order for standard disclosure where a defendant bank maintained that production of documents would contravene foreign criminal law or regulations, with the result that the bank’s defence was struck out and it was debarred from defending the claims: Byers & Ors v Samba Financial Group [2020] EWHC 853 (Ch).

The decision highlights the dilemma for parties to litigation who may face criminal or regulatory sanctions if they comply with their disclosure duties, but may have their claims or defences struck out if they fail to comply with those duties.

For more information see this post on our Banking Litigation Notes blog.

Note: Permission to appeal to the Court of Appeal has been refused.