The High Court has interpreted the contractual release in a settlement agreement as extending to unknown claims based on dishonesty and fraud, despite the terms of the release not expressly referring to such claims. The claimant was therefore precluded from pursuing further claims alleging deliberate wrongdoing following the receipt of what it said was new … Read more

The High Court has held that the protection attached to a chain of emails marked “without prejudice” extended to a subsequent email even though it was not so labelled. The last email plainly followed on from the prior emails seeking to resolve a dispute and there had been no clear indication that the sender wished … Read more

The High Court has held that a settlement agreement was a binding agreement which superseded a previously accepted Part 36 Offer. The settlement agreement provided a clearer basis for the recovery of costs and was “not merely an agreement memorialising the Part 36 Offer”: Falcon Trident Shipping Ltd v Levant Shipping Ltd [2021] EWHC 2204 … Read more

In the context of claims relating to an allegedly fraudulent investment scheme, the High Court has held that a settlement agreement reached between the applicant liquidators and two of the respondents did not preclude the applicants from continuing their claims against the remaining respondents: Biscoe and Baxter as Joint Liquidators of Equitable Law Capital Limited … Read more

In a recent decision, the High Court agreed not to hand down judgment where the parties had reached settlement following circulation of the draft judgment, and that settlement was conditional on the judge agreeing not to hand down judgment: Beriwala v Woodstone Properties (Birmingham) Ltd [2021] EWHC 609 (Ch). The decision helpfully summarises the court’s … 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 held that a claimant who beat its own Part 36 offers was entitled to the full range of enhanced awards under CPR 36.17, rather than the less generous partial award ordered by the High Court: Telefonica UK Ltd v The Office of Communications [2020] EWCA Civ 1374. CPR 36.17(4) provides … Read more

The Court of Appeal has held that the claimant was not entitled to withhold from inspection communications that had been incorporated into a settlement agreement with one of five defendants. That was despite the fact that, at the time they were made, those communications had been protected by the without prejudice rule, and potentially also … Read more