May 10, 2021 court of first instance - Orders
Claim No. CFI 087/2019
THE DUBAI INTERNATIONAL FINANCIAL CENTRE COURTS
IN THE COURT OF FIRST INSTANCE
BETWEEN
(1) HEALTH BAY INVESTMENT IN HEALTHCARE ENTERPRISES & DEVELOPMENT LLC
(2) ANGLO ARABIAN HEALTHCARE INVESTMENTS – SOLE PROPRIETORSHIP LLC (formerly ANGLO ARABIAN HEALTHCARE INVESTMENTS LLC)
Claimants
and
DR. KAMAL AKKACH
Defendant
AGREED CONFIDENTIALITY CLUB ORDER
UPON considering the letter from the Claimants’ representatives dated 29 April 2021
AND UPON considering the letter from the Defendant’s representatives dated 29 April 2021
AND UPON the agreement of the Claimants and the Defendant (the “Parties”)
IT IS HEREBY ORDERED, BY CONSENT, THAT:
Confidentiality ring
1. For the purposes of the following provisions of this Order:
(a) "Authorised Persons" means in respect of Confidential Information received by the Parties:
(i) any person named in Part A of the Schedule to this Order provided they have given a signed undertaking to the Court in the terms of Part B of the Schedule to this Order;
(ii) any expert providing evidence in the Proceedings provided that:
(A) the Receiving Party gives the other Parties notice of the identity of the expert at least 7 days prior to providing that expert with the Confidential Information;
(B) the Producing Party does not object in that period to the expert receiving the Confidential Information; and
(C) the expert has given a signed undertaking to the Court in the terms of Part B of the Schedule to this Order;
(iii) any e-disclosure provider retained by the Parties for the purposes of facilitating the production process in the Proceedings provided that:
(A) the Receiving Party gives the other Parties notice of the identity of the e-disclosure provider at least 7 days prior to providing that e-disclosure provider with the Confidential Information;
(B) the Producing Party does not object in that period to the e-disclosure provider receiving the Confidential Information; and
(C) the e-disclosure provider has given a signed undertaking to the Court in the terms of Part B of the Schedule to this Order; and
(iv) any other person in respect of whom a Producing Party provides its written consent, or in respect of which an Order of the Court is made granting consent, provided they have given a signed undertaking to the Court in the terms of Part B of the Schedule to this Order.
(b) "Confidential Information" means personal information of patients, including their email addresses, names, medical records, financial information, and any other information considered to be personal or confidential healthcare information by any of Dubai Law No. 26 of 2015, Federal Law No. (2) of 2019, Concerning the Use of the Information and Communications Technology in Health Fields, the DIFC Data Protection Law, or the Dubai Health Authority.
(c) “Producing Party” means a Party who produces any document (including without limitation in any Statements of Case, Application Notices, witness statements, expert reports, skeleton arguments or copies of produced documents) which contains Confidential Information (and is clearly marked as such) to the other Party, in the course of these Proceedings.
(d) “Party” is any Claimant or Defendant in the Proceedings at the date of this Order.
(e) “Proceedings” means the proceedings in the Dubai International Financial Centre Courts in Claim Number CFI-087-2019.
(f) “Receiving Party” means a Party to whom any document (including without limitation in any Statements of Case, Application Notices, witness statements expert reports, skeleton arguments or copies of produced documents) which contains Confidential Information (and is clearly marked as such) is provided, by the other party, in the course of these Proceedings.
(g) “Relevant Material” means material: (a) that adversely affects a Party’s own case; (b) adversely affects another Party’s case; (c) supports another Party’s case; or (d) upon which the Party in whose control any document in which the material appears relies.
(h) “RDC 2014” means the Rules of the Dubai International Financial Centre Courts 2014.
Treatment of Confidential Information
2. When a Producing Party provides to a Receiving Party any document (which for the avoidance of doubt includes, without limitation, any Statements of Case, Application Notices, witness statements, expert reports or copies of produced documents) that contains any material that the Producing Party considers to be Confidential Information belonging to it, the Producing Party shall:
(a) mark on the face of the document the fact that it contains Confidential Information and include references to the pages (and, where possible, paragraph / clause references) which contain the Confidential Information;
(b) identify within the document itself the specific information that is considered to be Confidential Information; and
(c) provide an additional copy of the document with any Confidential Information redacted from it.
3. Only the Authorised Persons of a Receiving Party may inspect the unredacted copy of documents marked as containing Confidential Information.
4. Each Authorised Person shall:
(a) keep Confidential Information secret and in the strictest confidence;
(b) not intentionally disclose Confidential Information by any means, including orally or in writing, to anyone other than an Authorised Person;
(c) use the Confidential Information solely for the purposes of the Proceedings (and for no other proceedings or use);
(d) not discuss the Confidential Information with any person other than an Authorised Person or qualified attorney bound by an obligation of confidentiality; and
(e) not make copies (including electronic copies) of any Confidential Information or any part thereof except as reasonably necessary for the purposes of the Proceedings.
5. For the avoidance of doubt, the protection afforded by virtue of this Order to Confidential Information shall continue pursuant to rule 28.65 RDC 2014 where:
(a) any such Confidential Information has been read to or by the Court or referred to at a hearing which has been held in public; and/or
(b) any document, witness statement and / or expert report containing such Confidential Information has been read to or by the Court or referred to at a hearing which has been held in public.
6. Information that is publicly available is not Confidential Information for the purpose of this Order and this Order shall not prevent a Receiving Party’s Authorised Persons from disclosing Confidential Information to the Receiving Party to the extent that the Receiving Party has obtained that Confidential Information by legitimate means and otherwise than in default of the provisions of this Order.
7. For the avoidance of doubt, Confidential Information contained in a document, witness statement and / or expert report in these Proceedings should not be used for any purposes other than the furtherance of this litigation. This restriction shall apply both during the course of this litigation and after its conclusion, including where any document, witness statement and / or expert report containing Confidential Information has been read to or by the Court, or referred to, at a hearing which has been held in public, pursuant to rules 28.64 and 28.65 RDC 2014.
General
8. All Confidential Information shall be clearly identified and marked as confidential in any unredacted copies of documents intended for use in Court, and for any hearing in public shall be placed in a bundle marked “Strictly Confidential by way of an Order of the Court of First Instance”.
9. Any person affected by this Order may apply for an Order disapplying or varying the provisions of this Order in respect of any material to which it considers the provisions ought not to apply.
Addition or Substitution of Authorised Persons
10. The Parties may seek to substitute or add to the persons listed at Part A to the Schedule at any time by giving a minimum of 5 days’ written notice to the other Party. In the case of any proposed addition or substitution such notice shall enclose an undertaking signed by the proposed additional or substitute person(s) to treat all documents and Confidential Information subject to this Order as though they were named in Part A of the Schedule hereto.
11. Each notified party shall within 5 working days of service of that notice serve upon the other Party its written agreement or objection to the proposed amendment or substitution. Upon service of a notice of agreement by every Party, or where no written objection is raised by any Party, the said amendment or substitution shall take effect without further order of the Court. Consent is assumed unless written notice is provided before expiry of the 5 working day notice period.
12. Where any notified party objects to a proposed amendment or substitution, the party seeking to substitute or add to the persons listed at Part A to the Schedule may apply to the Court for an order that such amendments be made forthwith. A party may also apply to the Court for a variation of this Order in the event that the Producing Party objects to its expert or e-disclosure provider receiving Confidential Information.
Conclusion of the Proceedings
13. Upon the conclusion of these proceedings, on 21 days' notice, the Producing Party may require the Receiving Party and its Authorised Persons to return or destroy any Confidential Information produced by the Producing Party.
Liberty to apply
14. There shall be liberty to apply.
Issued by:
Nour Hineidi
Registrar
Date of issue: 10 May 2021
At: 12:45pm
