Proactive Group Holdings Inc & Anor v HJ 2024 Limited & Ors
[2024] EWHC 2821 (KB)
Chia-Hsing Wang v Floreat Private Limited & Ors
1 February 2023
[2023] EWHC 224 (Comm)
High Court
Mr. Wang hired a company, Floreat, to help with his legal stuff. Things went sour, and he sued them to stop them from using his private legal documents. The judge said no, because it would interfere with other court cases and Mr. Wang had essentially agreed to Floreat having access to the information and also had waived privilege through his own actions in other proceedings.
Key Facts
- •Mr. Wang, a high net worth individual, engaged Floreat (a group of companies) between 2014 and 2020 for private office services, including legal and litigation management.
- •Floreat accessed Mr. Wang's confidential and privileged information.
- •In late 2020, their relationship deteriorated, leading to multiple legal proceedings in various jurisdictions (England, Cayman Islands, BVI, etc.).
- •Mr. Wang sought an interim injunction to restrain Floreat from using his confidential and privileged information.
- •The dispute involves allegations of breach of confidence, misuse of privileged information, and unpaid fees (approximately USD 80 million).
Legal Principles
Breach of confidence requires (1) information with the necessary quality of confidence, (2) imparted in circumstances importing an obligation of confidence, and (3) unauthorised use or misuse.
Coco v A N Clark (Engineers) Ltd [1969] RPC 41
Limited waiver of privilege: information can be confidential against certain persons and for certain uses; privilege isn't lost by showing a document to third parties for a limited purpose.
Jinxin Inc v Aser Media Pte Limited [2022] EWHC 2856 (Comm); Berezovsky v Hine [2011] EWCA Civ 1089; Candey Ltd v Bosheh [2022] 4 WLR 84
Implied waiver of privilege: when a client sues a solicitor, putting their confidential relationship in issue, privilege is waived to the extent necessary for the just determination of the claim.
Paragon Finance plc v Freshfields [1999] 1 WLR 1183
Legal professional privilege is a fundamental condition on which the administration of justice rests.
R v Derbyshire Magistrates Court Ex p. B [1996] AC 487
Comity: Courts should be circumspect in granting relief that interferes with proceedings in other fora.
Autostore Technology AS v Ocado Group plc [2022] 1 WLR 561
Outcomes
The injunction was refused.
The court considered the principles of comity and practicality, noting the late stage of the application and its potential disruption to other proceedings. The court also found that the defendants’ use of the information fell within permissible uses under the contract and that Wang's actions constituted a waiver of privilege.
Defendants to provide undertakings to the court regarding the use of the information.
To provide some protection to the claimant against misuse of information.
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