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

In a recent decision, the High Court has found that a clause in a settlement agreement which was aimed at protecting a business’s IP rights was not penal, despite imposing “undoubtedly extremely harsh” consequences for breach of certain obligations in a settlement agreement. Under the clause, the relevant party would cease to receive any payment … Read more

Establishing that a counterparty is in breach of contract is only the first hurdle to obtaining proper redress. It is just as important for the innocent party to show that it has suffered a loss as a result of the breach, and to prove what that loss is, or to establish that it should be … Read more

This annual contract law update from our corporate team considers a number of interesting contract law cases from 2020 which highlighted key points for those involved in drafting or managing contracts. The cases chosen deal with formation, variation, interpretation, good faith, force majeure and notice provisions. In each case there is a brief summary of the … Read more

Despite the UK and EU having finalised a Trade and Cooperation Agreement to govern their trading and security relationship following the end of the Brexit transition period, there remain a number of uncertainties when it comes to commercial dispute resolution in cases involving the UK and the EU. In this post we look at some … Read more

Parties to commercial contracts may wish to exit their contractual arrangements for all sorts of reasons. In many cases, they will have included in their contract a right to terminate in particular circumstances, and a process for doing so. Even where there is no express right to terminate, parties may be entitled to terminate under … Read more

In a recent decision, the Court of Appeal has overturned a deputy judge’s decision that a binding settlement agreement had been reached in inter-solicitor correspondence despite the use of the “subject to contract” label: Joanne Properties Ltd v Moneything Capital Ltd [2020] EWCA Civ 1541. The decision illustrates that, once parties have started to negotiate … Read more

The Court of Appeal has dismissed an appeal against a decision interpreting the provisions of a Farm-Out Agreement for the sale of an interest in two oil production licences: Apache North Sea Limited v (1) Euroil Exploration Limited & (2) Edison S.p.A [2020] EWCA Civ 1397. Herbert Smith Freehills LLP represented the successful defendants/respondents, Euroil Exploration Limited … Read more