On 17 December 2021, the CAT heard the arguments of the claimant, Jaguar Land Rover (JLR), and the defendants, maritime car carriers including MOL, Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha, Wallenius Wilhelmsen and Nissan, about the extent of disclosure the car carriers would have to provide.[1] The EC fined the car carriers in 2018 because the EC found that they were involved in a cartel, and JLR is suing them for damages.[2] During the hearing, the parties agreed that the defendants would disclose the EC’s cartel decision and a specific set of documents that had been accessed during the investigation. However, JLR argued for wider disclosure and said that it needed more of the documents the EC had obtained during the investigation in order to assess the impact of the cartel. The judge sided with the defendants, who objected to this request as too burdensome because, according to the defendants, the information was located at the premises of various car carriers and would therefore have to be reconstructed. This would lead to a disproportionate amount of costs being incurred. The judge agreed, adding that wider disclosure might not reveal relevant information and could therefore be unnecessary at this stage.[3]

[1] The case reference is 1347/5/7/20 Jaguar Land Rover Ltd and Others v MOL (Europe Africa) Ltd and Others.

[2] EC decision of 21 February 2018, Case AT.40009 (Maritime Car Carriers).

[3] According to Mlex, ‘Car-carriers’ disclosure for JLR’s UK cartel damages claim limited to main EU probe documents’, 17 December 2021.