Privilege wrangle

A post-incident report will attract privilege from disclosure if it is primarily prepared in contemplation of litigation, the High Court has ruled. In West London Pipeline and Storage Ltd and another v Total UK Ltd and others, the claimant sought disclosure of the postincident report following an explosion at an oil storage terminal. It claimed that privilege would not attract since the primary purpose of the report was to comply with the operator’s duty to prepare a report under the Control of Major Accident Hazard Regulations 1999. However, the court ruled that the regulations imposed no explicit duty to report and the dominant purpose could be, as the defendant claimed, to instruct the company solicitors on the circumstances of the incident. Privilege was therefore allowed.