SAFEGUARD MANAGEMENT CORPORATION (as trustee of the Timis Trust)

• Jurisdiction: Cayman Islands
• Judge: (Parker, J.)
• Judgment Date: 28 September 2017
• Date: 28 September 2017
• Court: Grand Court (Cayman Islands)

Grand Court, Financial Services Division

(Parker, J.)

IN THE MATTER OF SAFEGUARD MANAGEMENT CORPORATION (as trustee of the Timis Trust)

Attorneys: Harneys for Gerald Metals S.A.; Kobre & Kim for the XYZ Trust.

Confidential Relationships — application to court for directions — nature of proceedings

The court had allowed in part an application pursuant to s.4 of the Confidential Information Disclosure Law 2016 (that decision is reported at 2017 (2) CILR 1). An issue subsequently arose as to status of the materials including affidavits, exhibits, skeleton arguments and transcripts produced in the proceedings held in chambers.

Held: There was no question that the confidential information that had been the subject of the application under the Law and was disclosed to the plaintiff remained confidential. That was clear from the confidential schedule to the order. There was, however, nothing in the Law which required the whole of s.4 proceedings to be treated as having been held, in effect, in camera so that no information concerning matters raised in the proceedings themselves through affidavits, exhibits, written arguments, transcripts and the like could be referred to outside the proceedings. Although the Grand Court heard such applications in chambers, i.e. in private, it was clear from Practice Direction No. 3/97 that the publication of information relating to proceedings before the court sitting in private should not, save in exceptional circumstances, in itself be a contempt of court. It was a common law principle that, in general, the public should have access to court proceedings and to...