A recent Court of Appeal decision is a useful reminder of the principles the court will apply when assessing damages for deceit / fraudulent misrepresentation in the context of corporate acquisitions and other asset purchases: MDW Holdings Limited v James Robert Norvill, Jane Rosemary Norvill and Stephen John Norvill [2022] EWCA Civ 883. The decision illustrates … Read more

In the context of an application to strike out or summarily dismiss a claim for fraudulent misrepresentation, the High Court has held that conscious awareness of the alleged implied representation was not necessary for the claim to have a real prospect of success at trial: Crossley & Ors v Volkswagen Aktiengesellschaft & Ors [2021] EWHC 3444 … Read more

The High Court has published a summary of its findings on liability in the long-running USD$5 billion civil fraud action brought by the Hewlett Packard group in connection with its acquisition of the UK software company Autonomy Corporation Limited (“Autonomy”) in 2012.  The claimants have “substantially succeeded” in their claims against two former Autonomy executives: … Read more

In the context of a claim by a fraud victim seeking damages for consequential loss of investment opportunity, the Court of Appeal has rejected an argument by the fraudster that the victim was obliged to give credit not only for the cash they received as part of the relevant fraudulent transactions, but also for the … Read more

The Court of Appeal has allowed a party to proceed with an action seeking to set aside a default judgment against him in earlier proceedings on the basis that the judgment was procured by fraud. The fact that, prior to the original proceedings, the party was aware of the factual circumstances now relied on to … Read more

A recent High Court decision has considered the operation of section 32(1) of the Limitation Act 1980, which can postpone the start of the limitation period in fraud claims until the time when the claimant has discovered the fraud “or could with reasonable diligence have done so”.  The court held that, when determining the stage … Read more

In a recent decision, the High Court has rejected a claim for misrepresentation, finding that although a fraudulent misrepresentation had been made it had not induced the claimant to enter into the relevant transaction: Ahuja Investments Ltd v Victorygame Ltd [2021] EWHC 2382 (Ch). The decision highlights the dangers of failing to lead evidence of reliance … Read more

In a recent decision, the High Court has struck out claims against a defendant bank alleging implied fraudulent misrepresentations in relation to LIBOR, on the basis that the claimants had failed to plead that the alleged representations were actively present in their mind when entering into the products in question and therefore the claim stood … Read more