A recent Court of Appeal judgment provides further assurance that jurisdiction clauses within standard form ISDA documentation will not readily be displaced by contrary jurisdiction clauses in related contracts: BNP Paribas SA v Trattamento Rifiuti Metropolitani SPA [2019] EWCA Civ 768. Upholding the first instance decision, the Court of Appeal gave effect to an English … Read more
Sometimes what appears to be an agreement is not in fact binding, for example because it is incomplete or its terms are uncertain, or perhaps because the necessary contractual intention is lacking. Conversely, a binding agreement might be reached despite appearances to the contrary, for example where parties commence work before a formal agreement is signed. In this first of … Read more
As we have previously reported, guidance recently issued by the European Commission suggests exclusive English jurisdiction agreements entered into between October 2015 and exit day may not, in the case of a no-deal Brexit, come within the Hague Convention on Choice of Court Agreements 2005. Anna Pertoldi has published a post on Practical Law’s Dispute … Read more
The Court of Appeal has upheld a decision that a defendant’s offer to accept £100,000 in settlement of both the claim and its unpleaded counterclaim was a valid “claimant’s offer” under CPR Part 36: Calonne Construction Ltd v Dawnus Southern Ltd [2019] EWCA Civ 754. The decision confirms that a defendant can be treated as … Read more
The High Court has confirmed that the Disclosure Pilot operating in the Business and Property Courts since 1 January 2019 applies to all proceedings currently on foot in those courts (apart from those specifically excluded), regardless of whether orders for disclosure were made prior to that date. Accordingly, any applications for further orders regarding disclosure … Read more
The High Court has held that correspondence marked “without prejudice save as to costs” and which described the conduct of prior “without prejudice” (“WP”) negotiations (including a mediation and subsequent discussions) was admissible in an application for costs against the claimant’s lawyers: Willers v Joyce & Ors [2019] EWHC 937 (Ch). The court accepted that … Read more
The Court of Appeal has held that, where a buyer wrongly terminated a two year contract, the seller could only claim its own loss of profit and not that of a sister company that was supplying 50% of the products in question: BV Nederlandse Industrie Van Eiprodukten v Rembrandt Enterprises, inc [2019] EWCA Civ 596. … Read more
The Court of Appeal has held that an accountant member of a multi-disciplinary firm of solicitors was liable as an accessory for dishonestly assisting breaches of trust, overturning the High Court’s decision to the contrary: Group Seven Limited & Ors v Notable Services LLP & Ors [2019] EWCA Civ 614. The appeal turned on the question of whether … Read more
