Climate disputes – Greenwashing dispute risks – International perspectives

Fuelled by the global spread of ESG and climate-related disclosure obligations and coupled with pressures from increasingly ESG-driven stakeholders, businesses are saying more than ever about their environmental and social performance. These statements might be product-specific, relate to investment strategy or corporate governance. Such statements might be seen as good marketing, positive for a company’s … Read more

Court of Appeal interprets warranty that there had been no material adverse change in company’s prospects and highlights need for careful compliance with notice provisions

A recent Court of Appeal decision has overturned a first instance finding that sellers of a company were liable for breach of a warranty that there had been “no material adverse change” in the company’s prospects since the accounts date specified in the agreement: Decision Inc Holdings Proprietary Ltd v Garbett [2023] EWCA Civ 1284. … Read more

Supreme Court finds court must generally accept uncontroverted expert evidence

A Supreme Court decision handed down last week establishes that the general rule in civil cases is that a party who submits that the court should not accept an opponent’s witness evidence on a material point must challenge that evidence by cross-examination – whether it is factual or expert evidence, and regardless of whether the … Read more

Company not ordered to disclose privileged documents to shareholders in context of late application in securities class action

In an oral judgment delivered at the end of a one-day hearing, the High Court has refused an application by the claimants in a securities class action for disclosure of privileged documents by the defendant company: Various Claimants v G4S PLC [2023] EWHC 2863 (Ch). The decision considers the boundaries of the so-called “shareholder principle”, … Read more

Exclusion clauses: High Court grants summary judgment as losses fell within clear and unambiguous exclusion clause and UCTA reasonableness test did not apply

In a recent decision, the High Court granted summary judgment in favour of a defendant on the basis that the claimant had no real prospect of establishing that its losses were not excluded under the terms of the relevant agreements: Pinewood Technologies Asia Pacific Ltd v Pinewood Technologies PLC [2023] EWHC 2506 (TCC). The decision … Read more

Revised litigation funding agreement approved for opt-out competition claim: fee based on multiple of funding was not a DBA

The Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) has found that a litigation funding agreement that was revised to take account of the Supreme Court’s decision in Paccar (considered in our previous blog post) was not a damages-based agreement (DBA). It was therefore enforceable in the context of an application for an opt-out collective proceedings order: Alex Neill Class Representative … Read more