Cases - London & Leeds Estates Ltd v Paribas Ltd (No 2)

Record details

Name

London & Leeds Estates Ltd v Paribas Ltd (No 2)

Date

[1995]

Citation

1 EGLR 102, QBD

Keywords

Expert witness

Summary

In an arbitration of a rent review dispute, the tenant wanted disclosure of proofs of evidence given by the landlords' expert witness in earlier separate arbitrations. The tenant argued they contained statements by the experts inconsistent with the evidence as to market conditions they were now giving. The court rejected the contrary argument that these were covered by privilege, so that the experts could not be cross-examined on them:

'If a witness were proved to have expressed himself in a materially different sense when acting for different sides, that would be a factor which should be brought out in the interests of individual litigants involved and in the public interest.'

So the evidence would have to be disclosed, although this did not apply to evidence given in an unrelated arbitration by the experts; the defendants' desire to refer to this was described as no more than a 'fishing expedition'.