A&E Television Networks LLC and another company v Discovery Communications Europe Ltd [2011] EWHC 1038 (Ch), [2011] All ER (D) 34 (May)
Survey evidence was invariably expensive, time-consuming and quite often not particularly probative because of the manner in which it had been conducted, the questions asked or both. Accordingly, as a matter of practice the courts had required leave to be sought before such evidence was adduced. On such applications, the court was doing the following:
(i) so far as a party was going to seek to put expert evidence before the court, the court was exercising its power to control the amount and nature of expert evidence in order to make sure the expert evidence was proper evidence, admissible, and proportionate;
(ii) so far as a party sought to put in the actual answers to questions, the court was ensuring that the evidence was admissible and probative;
(iii) so far as the court was controlling the calling of live witnesses obtained as a result of some form of survey evidence, it was again ensuring that the evidence was admissible and probative;
(iv) in so doing,
