Buzzfeed Inc & Anor v Gubarev & Ors

Buzzfeed Inc & Anor v Gubarev & Ors

The Senior Master was entitled to limit the scope of Mr Steele’s oral examination to specific topics relating to the December memorandum, as the requesting (Florida) court had not independently considered the relevance of the individual topics, and the original request was overly broad and oppressive. The US Defendants failed to show that the excluded topics were relevant or that the limitations imposed were wrong in principle or discretion.

Parties
Appellant: BuzzFeed Inc; Appellant: Ben Smith; First Respondent: Aleksej Gubarev; First Respondent: XBT Holdings SA; First Respondent: Webzilla Inc; Second Respondent: Christopher Steele; Intervenor: Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO)
Jurisdiction
England and Wales
Judgment Date
18 May 2018
Procedural Posture
Appeal / Judgment on Appeal From Senior Master’s Order Regarding Scope of Oral Examination Under Evidence (proceedings in Other Jurisdictions) Act 1975
Outcome
appeal dismissed
Legal Topics
Letters of Request, Evidence in Foreign Proceedings, Oppression, Relevance of Evidence, Defamation
Civil Procedure International Judicial Assistance Letters of Request Evidence in Foreign Proceedings Oppression Relevance of Evidence Defamation

Case Brief

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Parties

BuzzFeed Inc

Appellant

Ben Smith

Appellant

Aleksej Gubarev

First Respondent

XBT Holdings SA

First Respondent

Webzilla Inc

First Respondent

Christopher Steele

Second Respondent

Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO)

Intervenor

Procedural Posture

Appeal / Judgment on Appeal From Senior Master’s Order Regarding Scope of Oral Examination Under Evidence (proceedings in Other Jurisdictions) Act 1975

Legal Issues

  1. 1 Whether the Senior Master erred in limiting the scope of oral examination of Mr Steele under a Letter of Request from a US court
  2. 2 Whether the topics for examination were relevant to the US proceedings
  3. 3 Whether the request as framed was oppressive

Ratio Decidendi

The Senior Master was entitled to limit the scope of Mr Steele’s oral examination to specific topics relating to the December memorandum, as the requesting (Florida) court had not independently considered the relevance of the individual topics, and the original request was overly broad and oppressive. The US Defendants failed to show that the excluded topics were relevant or that the limitations imposed were wrong in principle or discretion.

Court Disposition

appeal dismissed

Orders

  • Appeal dismissed on all grounds
  • Parties to agree the form of order in light of the judgment