The Court of Appeal has held that accessories who were jointly and severally liable with a principal as joint tortfeasors were liable to account only for the profits which they themselves had made from the wrongful acts, and not those profits made by the principal: Equities CV v Ahmed [2021] EWCA Civ 675. This gives … Read more

The High Court has granted the sellers of a company summary judgment on their claim for specific performance of a clause requiring payment of consideration from an escrow account, as the purchaser’s claims had not been properly notified in accordance with the relevant contractual provisions: Arani & Ors v Cordic Group Ltd [2021] EWHC 829. … Read more

In a recent decision, the Court of Appeal has followed last year’s Privy Council decision in Ciban Management Corpn v Citco (BVI) Ltd [2020] UKPC 21 (noted here) and confirmed that the Duomatic principle applies to beneficial shareholders, provided they are taking all of the decisions in the relevant transaction: Satyam Enterprises Ltd v Burton … Read more

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

On 12 February, the Supreme Court handed down its judgment in a high profile jurisdictional challenge relating to group claims brought against Royal Dutch Shell Plc and its Nigerian subsidiary in connection with alleged pollution in the Niger Delta.  The decision will be of great interest – and potential concern – to all UK domiciled … Read more

The Supreme Court has held that a claimant who had engaged in mortgage fraud was not barred from bringing a claim against her solicitors for negligently failing to register the forms transferring the property to her and releasing a prior mortgage: Stoffel & Co v Grondona [2020] UKSC 42. The decision is of interest in … Read more

The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council has ruled that the corporate director and the agent of a BVI-based holding company did not owe the company a duty of care to ensure that the beneficial owner’s business associate, who had previously given instructions regarding the affairs of the company on the beneficial owner’s behalf, was … Read more

The Law of Solicitors’ Liabilities, Fourth Edition, previously known as Solicitors’ Negligence and Liability, has recently been released. The publication was written by leading practitioners in the field Tom Leech QC of Herbert Smith Freehills and William Flenley QC of Hailsham Chambers with contributions from Thomas Grant QC (Maitland Chambers), Nicola Rushton QC (Hailsham Chambers), Alice … Read more