Amandeep Gill's Analysis of Imerman

The Imerman Effect - A Cheat's Charter?

The Court of Appeal this morning delivered judgment in the long awaited case of Tchenguiz and Others v Imerman [2010] EWCA Civ 908. In an extensive judgment running into 49 pages the court considered all manner of legal and equitable principles including  breach of confidentiality and copyright tortious liability criminal conduct the Family Proceedings Rules 1991 S25 Matrimonial Causes Act 1973 and the European Convention of Human Rights.

In essence the Court held that Hildebrand remains good law in so far as a litigant (usually the wife) who has accessed documentation unlawfully or clandestinely should disclose said documentation promptly when asked by the husband's solicitors or at questionnaire stage in Ancillary Relief proceedings. Hildebrand does not however provide a defence to criminal or otherwise actionable conduct committed by litigants or their representatives who take possession of such documentation. 

The Court considered that the correct course of action would have been for Lisa Imerman to have applied for freezing ...

Read the full article here.