Courts Resist Blanket Medical Disclosure Orders in UK Personal Injury Claims, Proportionality Test Decisive

A specific disclosure application in a fast-track personal injury claim has been successfully resisted on proportionality grounds, illustrating the limits defendants face when seeking claimants' entire medical histories. The claim arose from an electrocution injury. The defendant applied for an order requiring disclosure of the claimant's complete medical records, an application the court rejected. The legal framework is clear: CPR 31.12 empowers courts to order specific disclosure, but that power must be exercised consistently with the overriding objective under CPR 1.1, which requires cases to be dealt with justly and at proportionate cost. CPR 31.7 requires the reasonableness of any search to be assessed by reference to the number of documents, complexity of proceedings, ease and expense of retrieval, and significance of documents likely to be found. PD 31A paragraph 5.4 reinforces that courts must consider all circumstances, particularly proportionality. The defendant had not demonstrated a connection between the claimant's broader medical history and the injury pleaded. The court declined to authorise what amounted to a fishing expedition across records unrelated to the claim.