Jurisdictional obstacles can be tricky to overcome, but the English courts are taking a pragmatic approach when it comes to third-party disclosure in international fraud cases, Christian Tuddenham and Tracey Lattimer write in this week’s NLJ
Tuddenham, partner, and Lattimer, senior associate, Jenner & Block, look in particular at the recent case of Tonstate Group Ltd (in liquidation) & Ors v Edward Wojakovski & Ors [2024] EWHC 1196 (Ch), [2024] All ER (D) 87 (May), in which the claimants sought to recover £13.5m company funds illegitimately extracted. To this end, they needed to establish jurisdiction in order to force disclosure of relevant documents, as the producer of the documents resided abroad.
The authors explain how this was achieved. They write: ‘The decision illustrates the willingness of the English courts to adopt a pragmatic approach to potential jurisdictional obstacles where justice requires.’
