GG v YY & Anor

Mr Justice Tugendhat resolves three intertwined applications in long-running litigation between a solicitor (the Claimant), his former client (the First Defendant), and a retired solicitor (the Second Defendant) who assisted during a boundary dispute. After HHJ Hughes QC imposed an interim non-disclosure order in January 2011 and, in February 2011, the Second Defendant agreed permanent undertakings and a Tomlin-form stay while the injunction against the First Defendant continued, the matter stagnated for two years. In 2013/2014, the Defendants sought strike-out and to set aside prior orders, invoking alleged duress and abuse of process, while the Claimant sought to restrain dissemination of witness statements filed by the Second Defendant and his wife and to manage the case under CPR. The court rejects the Defendants’ applications as totally without merit, finds the impugned witness statements irrelevant and abusive, strikes them out under CPR r.3.1(2)(m), and declines the broad injunction as drafted, inviting tailored amendments and clarifying that legitimate complaints to proper authorities are not stifled.