TMO Renewables -v- (1) Desmond George Reeves (2) Maxwell Charles
Audley [2020] EWHC 789 (Ch)
In granting the appeal in this recent case, the High Court has
provided an important reminder of the principles involved when
determining whether legal professional privilege will have been
lost as a result of the mention of a privileged report in
proceedings.
Relevant background facts
The Claimant company alleged that breaches by the Defendant
directors had caused it to suffer £19.5 million in losses,
which had led to it entering insolvency proceedings.
In the context of a security for costs application, the Fourth
Defendant's solicitor stated that "the sum alleged to
be the loss and damage in this case (i.e. £19.5 million) is
an unexplained and unsupported figure which the liquidators cannot
possibly believe". The liquidator, regarding this as a
slur on his "professional competence", filed a
witness statement responding to the criticism. Crucially, that
statement
