When Private Becomes Public - Obtaining Documents From An Opponent's Personal Devices

In today's world the lines between personal and work are increasingly blurred. Employees often use personal phones or laptops to send or receive work-related messages. They may even use their personal email accounts. Although there may be entirely innocent reasons for this it can be used for nefarious purposes - for example where companies engage in unlawful behaviour and the individuals involved are deliberately avoiding work accounts or devices. When a company involved in such behaviour is subsequently involved in litigation how does the opponent get access to those devices and messages?

The Court of Appeal considered this issue recently in Phones 4U Ltd v EE Ltd & Ors [2021] EWCA Civ 116 and approved an unusual but pragmatic order as way of potentially avoiding the more usual but costly and time-consuming routes to getting these messages.