Disclosure

What distinguished the phone hacking cases from most claims was that the victims, who were the claimants, were unlikely to know that they were victims until someone else told them so, and then they could not know the extent of the apparent wrong unless someone else told them of it. In those circumstances, it could not be said that it would be better to start with a thinly-pleaded action and wait for discovery. The confidentiality of other victims had to be looked to, but that was protected by confidentiality regimes and redaction, and the extent of the proposed disclosure did not go further than was appropriate. It was clearly proportionate that victims should be able to have the relevant information at an earlier, rather than a later stage, and the scope of the information was clearly not disproportionate to the needs of the victim.