Mistaken disclosure of documents

Al Fayed and others v Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis and others (CA TLR 17 June)

Where privileged documents were mistakenly disclosed for inspection by one party in circumstances in which it would not have been obvious to a reasonable solicitor that a mistake had been made, the disclosing party was not entitled to an injunction ordering the receiving party to return the documents. Furthermore, the receiving party should be permitted to make proper use of the documents on the basis they were no longer the subject of legal professional privilege or public interest immunity, subject to the court’s powers of case management.