Court orders quantum disclosure ahead of mediation of claim brought by Kensington & Chelsea over Grenfell fire

Mrs Justice Jefford and Senior Master Cook ruled in the High Court on how to conduct a case brought by the council and its TMO - which managed the tower - against Beko Poland Manufacturing and 14 others. There are also a number of Part 20 Defendants including Exova (UK).

Mrs Justice Jefford and Senior Master Cook said it was common ground there should be a mediation over one week with at least two mediators, but, the issue was whether this could constructively take place before full disclosure and, in particular, quantum disclosure.

They said there had been no disclosure of quantum documents and this was “not simply a question of figures” as some defendants advanced cases that the claimants caused or contributed to their losses by unreasonable decisions taken as to the expenditure following the fire “as a result of their own mismanagement of the building and mismanagement of the consequences of the fire”.

The claimants proposed mediation take place some time in the summer of 2026, followed by disclosure on liability and quantum by the end of October 2026.

Some defendants though argued that an effective mediation could not take place until after disclosure.

Mrs Justice Jefford and Senior Master Cook said: “The concern that these defendants express, however, is that at present they simply do not know what will be provided by the claimants, and that this proposal, constructive and welcome though it is, was made far too late in the day and with far too little detail.”

These concerns led the judges to reluctantly conclude that, before disclosure, successful mediation is likely to be inhibited “by the lack of clarity as to why what was done was done”.

They said they would make orders that lead to the completion of disclosure, on both liability and quantum, by the end of October 2026 “on the basis that we do not anticipate any mediation before that”.

Since litigation would proceed in parallel with any alternative dispute resolution, they felt the first realistic date for a trial would be October 2028.

“We are very conscious that to list a trial in October 2028 - nearly three years from now - is remarkable, even for a case of this complexity and particularly against the background of the already lengthy Inquiry,” the judges said.

“However, with the settlement of the personal injury claims, what is left, as the parties have observed, is a commercial dispute, and it is in all the parties' interests that it is a dispute that does not reach a contested trial.”

They said this meant proceedings could last until the end of July 2029 but hoped to see “a mediated settlement of this litigation”.

Mark Smulian