Jurisdiction(s):
United Kingdom

England and Wales: admitting covert neuropsychological testing recordings in personal injury—Celikdemir v PGR Timber Ltd [2025] EWHC 3118 (KB); Mustard balancing; automatic software recording decisive

Published on: 23 December 2025

Published by a LexisNexis PI & Clinical Negligence expert

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Article summary

Celikdemir v PGR Timber Ltd and another [2025] EWHC 3118 (KB)

What are the practical implications of this case?

The ruling confirms that, where justice demands, secret recordings may, in appropriate cases, be received as evidence if and when the interests of justice so require. Even so, the judiciary still regards the covert taping of clinical consultations as unpalatable and discourteous. Echoing Master Davison’s much-publicised judgment in Mustard v Flower [2019] EWHC 2623 (QB), HHJ Shanks encourages the medical and medico-legal community to reach consensus on clear standards and good practice governing such recordings.

What was the background?

The case arose in a personal injury action disputing whether the claimant had sustained a traumatic brain injury. Both sides had agreed that neither party would record the neuropsychological assessments carried out by their respective experts. Despite that agreement, the claimant’s solicitor suggested she secretly record the defendant expert’s testing, which she did. HHJ Shanks later accepted that this advice resulted from an inadvertent mistake and ignorance of the agreement reached between the parties, rather than any conscious or deliberate breach...

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