On 28 July 2022, the Law Commission of England and Wales published a consultation paper on the recognition and protection of digital assets. The consultation paper recommends law reform to recognise a third category of personal property – referred to as ‘data objects’ – in addition to things in possession (such as physical objects) and things in … Read more

The Court of Appeal has confirmed that the High Court was right to restrict the assistance an English court could give to a Russian trustee in bankruptcy at common law, refusing to allow immoveable property situated in England to be administered by the trustee as part of the foreign bankruptcy proceedings: Kireeva v Bedzhamov [2022] … Read more

Following an ongoing dispute between two competing Boards of the Central Bank of Venezuela (BCV), both claiming to be appointed by the recognised President of Venezuela, the Supreme Court determined unanimously that: (a) Mr Guaidó is recognised by Her Majesty’s Government (HMG) as the constitutional interim President of Venezuela; and (b) Mr Maduro is not recognised … 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: ACL … Read more

The Court of Appeal has clarified how section 9 of the Defamation Act 2013 should be interpreted, finding that the requirement it introduced for the court to be satisfied that England is the most appropriate place to hear a libel dispute is merely a modification of the usual regime which applies where a claimant needs … Read more

The Board of the Privy Council has allowed an appeal in relation to the application of the so-called “reflective loss” principle, confirming that the rule falls to be assessed as at the point in time when a claimant suffers loss and not at the time proceedings are brought Primeo Fund v Bank of Bermuda (Cayman) … Read more

The High Court has rejected efforts to rely on a public interest defence under section 4 of the Defamation Act 2013 in circumstances where the defendants failed to take proper steps to investigate seriously defamatory allegations prior to publication: Lachaux v Independent Print Ltd & Anor [2021] EWHC 1797 (QB). This long-running libel action is … Read more