June 08, 2023 COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE - ORDERS
Claim No. CFI 043/2020
THE DUBAI INTERNATIONAL FINANCIAL CENTRE COURTS
IN THE COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE
BETWEEN
BANK OF BARODA (DIFC BRANCH)
Claimant
and
(1) NEOPHARMA LLC
(2) NMC HEALTHCARE LLC
(3) NEW MEDICAL CENTRE LLC
(4) BAVAGUTHU RAGHURAM SHETTY
Defendants
FURTHER RULING OF JUSTICE SIR PETER GROSS
1. My thanks to the parties for their various communications following my Order dated 2 June 2023 (the "Order”).
2. In the light of those communications, it is necessary to issue this Ruling (the “Further Ruling”) to deal with two matters:
i. A date for the Case Management Conference (“CMC”); and
ii. The inspection of the original documents.
I. A DATE FOR THE CMC
3. The Trial in this substantial dispute is listed to commence on Monday 11 September 2023. It is not in either party’s interests that the Trial date is lost. Currently, much needs to be done to ensure that the Trial date is kept. With that in mind, a CMC is necessary, promptly, to address the items listed in my Order.
4. It is unrealistic to suggest that the CMC can be left until August 2023. That would be too late. In any event, there is a Pre-Trial Review (“PTR”) to be held in August 2023– but the matters which need be dealt with in the CMC cannot be left for the PTR.
5. While it is understood that work will need to be done on the documents to be produced in the near future, to prepare for the CMC, I am not at all persuaded that the volume of documents relevant to the central issues in the case will make a July 2023 CMC impracticable.
6. I therefore direct the Registry to fix a CMC for one of four July dates – 3 July, 10 July, 12 July or 17 July 2023. Though the Registry will do its best to accommodate the availability of counsel, if need be, the CMC will be fixed regardless of counsel’s convenience. That is a course I would hope to avoid but the needs of trial preparation will come first.
II. INSPECTION OF THE ORIGINAL DOCUMENTS
7. I am not concerned here with arguments going to the merits of the case; those are for the Trial. My sole concern in this connection is safeguarding original documents.
8. I note that the Fourth Defendant will not personally be inspecting the original documents. Accordingly, I will vary the Order so that no Undertaking is required from the Fourth Defendant personally.
9. Those inspecting the original documents will therefore be confined to (i) an identified lawyer representing the Fourth Defendant; (ii) an identified expert instructed by the Fourth Defendant. Undertakings will be required from them as, for whatever length of time, the original documents will be in their custody.
10. I am persuaded that inspection of the original documents should take place at the Claimant’s premises in Dubai. I underline that the Claimant is to facilitate the inspection and to give the Fourth Defendant’s representatives (identified above) unimpeded access to the original documents at the Claimant’s premises. No one from the Claimant’s side is to be in or enter the room to be made available to the Fourth Defendant’s representatives during their inspection. The original documents will therefore not leave the Claimant’s premises but will be in the custody of the Fourth Defendant’s representatives for the duration of the inspection.
11. I am satisfied that neither a lawyer representing the Fourth Defendant, nor an expert witness, will in any way be inhibited in conducting the inspection by the fact that it will be taking place at the Claimant’s premises.
12. The inspection can take place following the Fourth Defendant’s representatives signing the Undertakings in their final form at the DIFC Court building at the time set by the Registry on 9 June 2023. On the assumption that the Undertakings have been signed by then, the documents should be made available for inspection from Monday 12 June 2023, on a date to be agreed by the parties or (in the event of disagreement) to be fixed by the Registry.
Issued by:
Delvin Sumo
Assistant Registrar
Date of issue: 8 June 2023
At: 11am