Third party inspection of Tomlin orders

Tomlin orders and confidentiality

The court may grant an order to a defendant allowing inspection of Tomlin order schedules reached between the claimant and other defendants. In doing so the court should respect the confidentiality of the parties to the Tomlin order.

Facts of the case

In an application brought under CPR 5.4B(1), eBay, one of the defendants, requested inspection of settlement agreements between the claimant and individual defendants, which were set out in the schedules to Tomlin orders. It was argued, on behalf of the eBay, that it was necessary and proportionate that eBay should be able to see the basis on which the claims had been settled by the claimant with the other defendants. The reason for this was that all of the defendants were joint tortfeasors. Therefore, unless the claimants had reserved their right in the settlement agreements to continue to pursue eBay, the settlement reached by the claimants with the other defendants