Obtaining Disclosure From Third Parties Outside The Jurisdiction Now Easier

Two recent developments have made it easier for those litigating in England and Wales to obtain information and documents from third parties outside the jurisdiction: the first is a new jurisdictional gateway for applications for information from third parties outside the jurisdiction; the second is the Court of Appeal's decision in Gorbachev v Guriev¹, in which a third-party disclosure order was made against parties outside the jurisdiction in respect of documents within the jurisdiction.

The new jurisdictional gateway

Parties seeking to serve proceedings against defendants outside the jurisdiction must, with few exceptions, obtain the court's permission to do so. For that permission to be forthcoming, the court must be satisfied that the proceedings in question fall within one of the categories set out in the Civil Procedure Rules, Practice Direction 6B. These categories are known as jurisdictional 'gateways'.