The Court of Appeal has dismissed an appeal against a High Court decision which went against the unambiguous literal meaning of the clause: MonSolar IQ Ltd v Woden Park Ltd [2021] EWCA Civ 961. This is an application of what the court referred to as the Chartbrook principle, by which clear mistakes in the drafting of a document can … Read more

The Court of Appeal has found that a fiduciary relationship is not a necessary pre-condition to relief in respect of an undisclosed commission paid to an agent. Instead, the court should determine whether the agent was obliged to provide information, advice or recommendation on an impartial or disinterested basis, saying that “it is the duty … Read more

The High Court has found that, when exercising its discretion as to whether to designate a force majeure event under a franchise agreement due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the franchisor was in breach of duty in failing to consider the franchisee’s need to self-isolate: Dwyer (UK) Franchising Ltd v Fredbar Ltd & Bartlett [2021] EWHC 1218 … Read more

A High Court Master has considered the doctrine of frustration in the context of a claim by the landlords of commercial premises for payment of rent due since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic and imposition of consequent restrictions in March 2020: Bank of New York Mellon (International) Ltd v Cine-UK Ltd [2021] EWHC 1013 (QB). … Read more

The High Court has granted applications by two banks to strike out claims brought against them after the primary limitation period for the claims had expired. This decision provides a helpful summary of the case law surrounding the operation of section 32(1)(b) Limitation Act 1980 (LA 1980), a provision that we are increasingly seeing claimants … Read more

The Hong Kong Court of First Instance has dismissed a claim for breach of the so-called Quincecare duty of care on the basis that the duty could only arise in circumstances where misappropriation of a customer’s funds occurred by an authorised or trusted agent of the customer, rather than where the customer itself instructed payment … Read more

The High Court has dismissed an application for an injunction to prevent an airline group from making demands under bank-confirmed standby letters of credit (SBLCs), securing aircraft leases granted to the claimant (a budget passenger airline), on the basis that it was not sufficiently arguable that the leases were frustrated due to the effects of … Read more

The Court of Appeal has upheld the High Court’s decision to reject all claims arising from the transfer of a defaulting borrower’s property portfolio to his lending bank’s restructuring unit during the global financial crisis. Dismissing the appeal in full, the Court of Appeal refused to imply any contractual terms into the mortgage, and did … Read more