Obtaining the Identity of Potential Defendants in English Litigation

Simply because a claimant with a good claim cannot identify the actual defendant to sue is not left without recourse. A court has jurisdiction to order persons who have information that may lead to the identification of the defendant to disclose that the information. Accordingly, unidentified defendants’ identities may be made the subject of disclosure by a court in England.

The exercise of this jurisdiction is best described as uncommon, but by no means infrequent. Although this jurisdiction of the court is available, a court will not exercise it unless the result would be that the claimant is left in a position where proceedings cannot be commenced against a named defendant.

Simply because a person is ordered to disclose information, does not mean that they will be ordered to give standard disclosure of all documents and materials pertaining to the particular wrongdoing; that jurisdiction is available under CPR 31. The Civil Procedure Rules require that applications for orders for disclosure are made with evidence in support.

The court also has power to require third parties to disclose documents that indicate how unlawful gains and profits and been applied. As such, orders may be obtained against financial institutions to reveal the sums owned by the intended defendant in their possession.