Not Knowing The Identity Of The Wrongdoer? A Third Party Can Help!

X stole the money of Y, deposited the crime proceeds into Bank A and further transferred it to other banks.

Y is preparing to sue X. However, Y has no idea where his money went!

Does Bank A have the obligation to disclose what it knows to victim Y and to assist him?

In general, only parties to an existing litigation have the duty to disclose documents relevant to the litigation. However, this is not always the case. In our example above, Bank A may be required by law to disclose information to assist victim Y in locating his stolen money although Bank A did not know about the theft and was completely innocent.

This is often referred to a "Norwich Pharmacal" order. The rationale behind it is that the law imposes a duty upon a person who, through no fault of his own, gets mixed up in the wrongdoings of others to assist the person who has been wronged by giving him full information and disclosing the identity of the wrongdoers. Accordingly, the identities