The recent decision of the Commercial Court in Novus Aviation Limited v Alubaf Arab International Bank BSC(c)[2016] EWHC 1575 (Comm), serves as a cautionary tale to any financial institutions that regularly use letters of commitment. The Court found that a letter of commitment, which was expressed to be “conditional upon satisfactory review and completion of documentation“, was … Read more
In Alexander v West Bromwich Mortgage Company Ltd[2016] EWCA Civ 496, the Court of Appeal considered the right of a lender to rely on standard term mortgage conditions that contradicted the special conditions of a “tracker mortgage”. In particular, the case concerned whether the lender could rely on two provisions in its standard term mortgage conditions … Read more
The recent decision of the Court of Appeal in Playboy Club London Ltd & Ors v Banca Nazionale Del Lavoro SPA [2016] EWCA Civ 457 is an interesting clarification of the legal principles that apply to bankers’ references. The commercial effect of the judgment is that, if a request for a bank reference: deliberately chooses not to reveal … Read more
LBG Capital No. 1 plc & Anor v BNY Mellon Corporate Trustee Services Limited [2015] EWCA Civ 1257: In an interesting contractual interpretation decision relating to contingent convertible (or better known as “CoCo“) capital notes, the Court of Appeal has overturned the decision of the High Court and held that a series of such notes (referred … Read more
The recent case of Urban Ventures Limited v The Black Ant Company Limited (in Administration) and Ors [2016] EWCA Civ 30 considered the question of whether new facility letters constituted further advances or whether they were simply restatements, with minor variations, of the original facility. In a brief but clear judgment, Lord Justice David Richards (with whom Lindblom … Read more
Our corporate team’s annual contract law update considers a number of interesting contract law cases which highlight key points for those involved in drafting or managing contracts. The cases covered in the update deal with the interpretation of contracts, precedence, penalties, good faith obligations, notice provisions and execution formalities. In each case there is a … Read more
