High Court strikes out time-barred claims holding that banks did not deliberately conceal facts so as to extend the limitation period

07 May, 2021
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

Hong Kong court refuses to expand scope of Quincecare duty

20 April, 2021
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

High Court finds alleged frustration of contract due to COVID-19 pandemic is not sufficiently arguable to grant injunction restraining demand under letter of credit  

24 March, 2021
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

Court of Appeal rejects all claims relating to transfer of property portfolio to lender’s restructuring unit following borrower default

23 March, 2021
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

Supreme Court hands down judgment in FCA’s Covid-19 Business Interruption Test Case

15 January, 2021
The Supreme Court has today handed down judgment in the Covid-19 Business Interruption insurance test case of The Financial Conduct Authority v Arch and Others. Herbert Smith Freehills acted for the FCA who advanced the claim for policyholders. The Supreme Court unanimously dismissed Insurers’ appeals and allowed all four of the FCA’s appeals (in two cases … Read more

High Court provides further insights on the risks of Quincecare claims against banks

17 December, 2020
The High Court has recently handed down another interesting decision on the so-called Quincecare duty: Roberts v The Royal Bank of Scotland plc [2020] EWHC 3141 (Comm). Quincecare duty claims typically arise where a bank received a payment mandate from an authorised signatory of its customer, and executed the order, in circumstances where (allegedly) there … Read more