In the latest in a growing line of contractual interpretation disputes arising from complex financial instruments, the Court of Appeal has overturned a decision of the Chancellor of the High Court on the meaning of a single provision in the suite of documents forming a series of collateralised loan obligation (CLO) notes. In doing so, it … Read more

A recent decision of the Commercial Court has reinforced the high threshold professional firms must meet to persuade a court as to the adequacy of information barriers put in place to prevent the disclosure of one client’s confidential information that is potentially relevant to an engagement for another client. Georgian American Alloys, Inc and others … Read more

Who is the rightful owner of a bribe? Is a bribe or secret commission received by an agent “held on trust” for his principal? Or is the principal’s claim against the agent a personal one for equitable compensation equal to the value of the bribe or commission? The issue is of critical importance. It affects … Read more

The Full Federal Court in Australia has confirmed that, as a matter of Australian common law, a rating agency owes a duty of care to investors in a rated financial product. As such, the rating agency must exercise reasonable care and skill in the issue of the credit rating. The essential basis on which the … Read more

The High Court has refused to grant an application to strike out a claim relating to the alleged negligent sale of an interest rate hedging product. The application had been made on the basis that the claim was time-barred. The decision shows that the High Court will be reluctant to prevent such claims from proceeding … Read more

The Supreme Court has refused permission to appeal from two recent Court of Appeal judgments involving high-profile mis-selling claims against banks.  The result of the Supreme Court decisions is to put an end to one of the claims but to allow the other to proceed to trial in the High Court. LIBOR claims – Unitech v Deutsche … Read more

The Court of Appeal has handed down an important judgment holding that complainants who had accepted a Financial Ombudsman Service (“FOS”) determination were barred from bringing court proceedings in relation to the same cause of action under the legal principle of res judicata. In doing so, the Court of Appeal overruled a High Court decision … Read more

Our corporate team’s annual contract law update considers a number of interesting contract law cases from last year and highlights key points for those involved in drafting or managing contracts. The topics covered in the update include: when a contract is formed the construction of contract terms exclusion clauses good faith penalties retention of title force majeure … Read more