By Oliver Browne and Hayley Pizzey

In very broad terms, parties to English litigation disclose documents that they or their opponents may want to rely upon — even if the disclosed documents are adverse to the disclosing party. Parties may seek orders for further disclosure in certain circumstances. The rules on disclosure are set out in Part 31 of the Civil Procedure Rules (the CPR) and Practice Directions 31A, 31B, and 31C (the last of which is new and applicable to competition cases only).

A recent decision in Vodafone Group Services Ltd & Ors v Infineon Technologies AG & Ors[i] highlighted some limits of further disclosure orders.

The decision

Certain Vodafone group companies have commenced a damages claim following on from a decision of the European Commission, in which the Commission found that Infineon Technologies and certain other smart card chip manufacturers had participated in a European Economic Area (EEA)-wide cartel involving the supply of smart card chips. Vodafone’s estimated damages are said to be approximately £150 million and the parties were likely to spend around £30 million in total to take the case to trial.