The English legal system imposes a heavy burden (rivalled only
by the US) on parties to a dispute to give disclosure of all
relevant documents, regardless of whether the documents are helpful
or harmful to them. However, documents can be withheld from an
opposing party if they are privileged. Privilege is therefore a
useful tool in litigation but it can be waived.
Where privilege is waived, the waiver is usually inadvertent and
is often a result of the relevant individual(s)' innocent
misunderstanding of how privilege is created and maintained under
English law.
An energy claims handler will frequently be required to
communicate with co-insurers, reinsurers, in-house legal,
management, underwriters, actuaries, loss adjusters, forensic
accountants and lawyers. Insureds will similarly have internal
reporting obligations plus communications with brokers, lawyers,
banks/lenders and perhaps shareholders.
