Anton Pillar Order
Disputes & Litigation

An Anton Pillar order (or 'search order') is a court order requiring a defendant to grant access to property and/or premises, to allow the claimant to conduct a search for evidence that may be easily disposed of upon notice of legal proceedings. Such an order is applied for to the court without notice (i.e. ex parte) to the defendant.

These types of orders arose from the case Anton Pillar KG v Manufacturing Processes Ltd. That case involved an action for copyright infringement and misuse of confidential information. The claimant was concerned that if the defendant had notice of the legal proceedings that were commenced in the ordinary way, that relevant evidence would be destroyed, defeating the opportunity for the court to conduct a fair trial.  Thus the court was prepared to order that the claimant was authorised to inspect the defendant's premises and seize documents relevant to the legal proceedings.

In that case, Ormond LJ specified three pre-conditions that must be satisfied prior to the making of an order:

1. there must be an extremely strong prima facie case;
2. the potential or actual damage to the claimant must be very serious;
3. there must be clear evidence that the intended defendants have documents or things in their possession that would give rise to liability, and there was a real possibility that it would be destroyed prior to the hearing of application by notice.

These criterion are applied flexibly to an extent, and the court will apply the criterion  with an eye for proportionality of the damage that might be suffered and the extent of the relief granted. The moving factor for an order is the risk of a denial of justice to the claimant in bring consequent legal proceedings.

Such orders are usually available where documents or property have been stolen or some other history of dishonesty on the part of the defendant is demonstrated. They are frequently used in intellectual property legal proceedings where counterfeiting or piracy is involved. These orders are only available where the claimant is able to demonstrate to the court that if the defendant were forewarned that there is a real danger that vital evidence would be destroyed or hidden, and thus depriving the claimant of the opportunity of justice being done between the parties.  The court will also look to the company accounts of the claimant prior to granting the order. If there is a possibility that the claimant will not be able to pay the defendant's costs in the event that the order was wrongly made for want of full and frank disclosure or any other reason, the court will insist on a bank guarantee or some other means of security from the claimant prior to making the order sought.

Such orders are now referred to as search orders and are dealt with in s 7 of the Civil Procedure Act and Part 25 of the Civil Procedure Rules.