Dresdner Bank v Sangobay Estates (1971) ULR 149

Tuesday, March 19, 2013

In this case of Dresdner Bank v Sangobay Estates (1971) ULR 149. The plaintiff sued for five separate bills of exchange drawn upon the first defendant. The Bills were accepted by the first defendant and signed by the other defendants as guarantors. The bills were presented for payment and returned dis honoured and the defendants became jointly and severally liable to the plaintiff for the money.

The defendants denied the status of the plaintiff and maintained the plaintiff obtained the bills in bad faith. The particulars of the bad faith could only be discovered after the discovery of the documents and the defendant applied for an order under order 10 rule 12 that the plaintiff should be ordered to make a discovery of the documents in his possession relating to any matter in the suit. The court held that the defendants were entitled to the discovery sought to give them the details of the bad faith and such order was discretionary where the court found that discovery was necessary.

Court said that the object of the rule is that it often happens that any party to an action makes an allegation of fact such as the existence of a partnership or an agency which is disputed by the other party. If the allegation is true, the right to discovery would follow.

If it is not true, there would be no right to discovery and the fact that the pleader is unable to plead except in general terms is the very reason why he should discover from the other party so as to enable him plead in detail and if at a particular stage of any action a party is stopped by reason of his ignorance of some fact which is known only to the other party, that is the very reason why there should be discovery of a fact and it does not make any difference if a party is stopped at the trial or before.

Tags : Insurance Law