Carillion v KPMG: Court provides guidance on Pre-Action Disclosure in Auditor's Negligence Claim

In a recent judgment, the High Court saw an application made by the liquidated company, Carillion, against its former auditors, KPMG, for pre-action disclosure. This was in the context of a threatened claim for professional negligence relating to KPMG allegedly failing to detect that certain financial statements were unreliable, and the application was made with a view to obtaining what it said were key documents, before then bringing its claim.

In this article, Joe Eizenberg and Zak Mehmood explain the background of the case along with the laws involved, and comment on how this significant decision will have an impact on pre-action disclosure applications in the future.