Filatona Trading Limited & Anor v Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan UK LLP
| Judge | Mr Justice Calver |
| Neutral Citation | [2024] EWHC 2573 (Comm) |
| Date | 14 October 2024 |
| Year | 2024 |
| Court | King's Bench Division |
| Counsel | Thomas Grant Kc,James Sheehan Kc,Antony White Kc |
Neutral Citation Number: [2024] EWHC 2573 (Comm)
Case No: CL-2021-000509
IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUSTICE
KING'S BENCH DIVISION
BUSINESS AND PROPERTY COURTS OF ENGLAND AND WALES
COMMERCIAL COURT
Royal Courts of Justice, Rolls Building
Fetter Lane, London, EC4A 1NL
Date: 14/10/2024
Before :
MR JUSTICE CALVER
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Between :
(1) FILATONA TRADING LIMITED
(2) OLEG VLADIMIROVICH DERIPASKA Claimants
- and -
QUINN EMANUEL URQUHART & SULLIVAN
UK LLP Defendant
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Thomas Grant KC and James Sheehan KC (instructed by Quillon Law LLP) for the
Claimants
Antony White KC (instructed by Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan UK LLP) for the
Defendants
Hearing dates: 02-03 October 2024
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JUDGMENT
This judgment was handed down by the Judge remotely by circulation to the
parties' representatives by email and release to The National Archives. The date
and time for hand-down is deemed to be 10:00 on Monday 14 October 2024.
High Court Approved Judgment Filatona Trading Limited and another v Quinn Emanuel
Urquhart & Sullivan UK LLP
Mr Justice Calver:
A. Introduction
1. It is fair to say that the Claimants (“the Deripaska Parties”) and Vladimir Chernukhin
and his company Navigator Equities Ltd (“Navigator”) (“the Chernukhin Parties”)
are not the best of friends. It is also fair to say that the honesty and integrity of both of
Mr. Deripaska and Mr. Chernukhin has from time to time been found to be wanting in
cases before the English Courts, not least in previous proceedings before this court
under sections 67 and 68 of the Arbitration Act 1996.
2. By their Claim Form dated 3 September 2021, the Deripaska Parties seek Norwich
Pharmacal relief against the Defendant (“QE”), the well-known city law firm. In 2018
QE began acting for the Chernukhin Parties in an advisory capacity, although Clifford
Chance were their solicitors on the record in later proceedings before this court under
section 68 of the Arbitration Act (“the section 68 proceedings”) out of which the
application arises.
3. As Tugendhat J observed in United Company Rusal Plc v HSBC Plc [2011] EWHC 404
(QB) at [6]: “There are few reported cases in which a Norwich Pharmacal order has
been sought against a law firm. Any form of claim by one litigant against the lawyers
retained by an opposing litigant is rare”.
4. However, in this case, the Deripaska Parties do seek an order from the court that QE
disclose the identity of an apparently well-known London based Business Intelligence
Consultancy (“the Consultancy”) which obtained a Russian language report, known as
the Glavstroy Report (“the Glavstroy Report”), from an alleged wrongdoer which is
said by the Deripaska Parties to be a forgery. The Consultancy then passed the report
on to QE, independently of the Chernukhin Parties1, whereupon it was subsequently
used by the Chernukhin Parties in the section 68 proceedings.
5. QE has explained that it does not know the identity of the ultimate source of the
Glavstroy Report and accordingly the Deripaska Parties no longer seek disclosure of
the identity of that source. The Deripaska Parties maintain, however, that disclosure of
the identity of “the middleman” (i.e. the Consultancy and the natural persons at the
1 This is accepted by both parties, at least for the purposes of this application.
Page 2
High Court Approved Judgment Filatona Trading Limited and another v Quinn Emanuel
Urquhart & Sullivan UK LLP
Consultancy who procured the report) is both proportionate and necessary as it will
assist in their identification of the ultimate source, as armed with that information they
can then seek a further order that the middleman should itself identify the ultimate
source2.
6. The case is unusual in that the fact of and the purpose of the engagement of the
Consultancy has already voluntarily been disclosed by QE and Clifford Chance. Mr.
Antony White KC, counsel for QE, submits nonetheless that the information sought on
the present application (insofar as it is within QE’s knowledge) relates to the identity of
the Consultancy (and its representatives) that QE engaged and communicated with for
the dominant purpose of seeking and/or obtaining evidence and/or information to be
used in connection with actual or contemplated adversarial litigation between the
Deripaska Parties and QE’s clients, the Chernukhin Parties. The information sought
will, he submits, be contained in confidential communications between QE and the
Consultancy, and as such the communications and the information they contain are
covered by litigation privilege which the Chernukhin Parties have not waived. Mr.
White KC made that argument the centre-piece of his opposition to the application, and
I address it below.
B. The History of the Dispute
7. I can take much of the history of the dispute from the summary contained in the parties’
skeleton arguments as well as from the first witness statement of Mr. McGregor served
on behalf of the Deripaska Parties at [8]ff, because there is no dispute about what
follows.
8. The dispute stems from a joint venture formed in the early 2000s in respect of a
Russian textiles manufacturer called OJSC Trekhgornaya Manufaktura (“TGM”). A
shareholders’ agreement was entered into in 2005, which named the Deripaska Parties
as “Party 1” and Navigator and Lolita Danilina as “Party 2”. Party 1 and Party 2 were
the sole shareholders in a Cypriot Company called Navio Holdings Limited (“Navio”),
which was the holding company of TGM and the joint venture (although there were
other minority interests in TGM held by third parties which are not relevant to these
proceedings).
2 See Kalmneft v Denton Hall [2002] 1 Lloyd’s Rep 417 at 423, [17].
Page 3
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