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Privileged Production

Sakab Saudi Holding Company v. Al Jabri 2025 Ont SCJ (Div Ct)

The plaintiff claimed a massive fraud and had already obtained a Mareva injunction and a Norwich order. The plaintiff brought a motion for production of law firm trust ledgers and for an order by which copies of foreign bank statements would not be redacted. The court refused production of the trust ledgers because the plaintiff did not show either that (i) there was no reasonable possibility that disclosure of the information would lead, directly or indirectly, to the revelation of confidential solicitor-client communications or (ii) the requested information was not linked to the merits of the case and its disclosure would not prejudice the client. Note the difference between the facts in this case and the case in which a judgment has already been obtained and the plaintiff is merely moving to find where a judgment debtor moved its money. The court did allow an order un-redacting the foreign bank statements, but still left open the possibility that if any of the redacted items could be linked to a lawyer, those items would remain redacted.

Written by Jonathan Speigel, the founding partner of Speigel Nichols Fox LLP, leads the litigation and construction practices.