Leif Hoegh & Co. A/S v. Petrolsea Incorporated (The World Era) - Q.B.D. (Com.Ct.) (Phillips J.) - 17 December 1992

Practice - Discovery in arbitration proceedings - Whether documents subject to “common interest privilege” - Whether any privilege waived as result of documents being brought into the public domain

In arbitration proceedings between Petrolsea and Leif Hoegh arising out of a charterparty, Petrolsea claimed that certain documents were privileged from inspection by the class of privilege commonly known as “common interest privilege”. In Buttes Oil Co. v. Hammer [1981] 1 Q.B. 223 Lord Denning M.R. referred to this type of privilege as follows: