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
The High Court has dismissed a purchaser’s claim for breach of warranty under a share purchase agreement (“SPA”) where it alleged that damages should be assessed on a “hypothetical indemnity” basis, ie on the basis that had the true position been known, the purchaser would have contracted for an indemnity that it did not in … Read more
On Tuesday 30 April (12.30 – 1.30pm UK time), Anna Pertoldi, Maura McIntosh and Jan O’Neill will deliver a webinar for Herbert Smith Freehills clients and contacts looking at developments in commercial litigation since our last update webinar, in October last year, including in areas such as disclosure, settlement, service of documents, costs and expert evidence. The webinar … Read more
