The mistake happened after a solicitor emailed the judgment in a contract and unjust enrichment case before the High Court in Bristol, which had a three-day embargo, to their client. It was automatically forwarded to her husband, who was not a party to the case and therefore not entitled to see it. The couple studied the draft together to look for typographical errors. When the solicitors learned of this, they informed the court.
Ruling in Rogers v Wills [2025] EWHC 1524 (Ch) last week, Judge Paul Matthews accepted the apologies of the claimant and her solicitors.
He advised solicitors who pass embargoed material to their clients to ensure there is no ‘inadvertent forwarding (automatic or not)… and that, if something of the kind does occur, that the lay client seeks advice immediately’.
