The Supreme Court has confirmed that an individual who is the subject of a criminal investigation will, in general, have a reasonable expectation of privacy in respect of the investigation until he or she is charged: Bloomberg LP v ZXC [2022] UKSC 5. This decision follows a number of first instance decisions to similar effect, … Read more

In a decision handed down this morning, the High Court has found that a tax QC who had prepared opinions for the promoter of film finance tax schemes did not owe a duty of care to the investors in those schemes – and that even if he had owed a duty, the views he expressed … Read more

The exponential growth in the volume of data being collected and shared, along with the ease and reduced costs of gathering, analysing, using and exploiting data, has resulted in a corresponding increase in data protection laws and regulations. Against that background, data class actions have been a growing phenomenon, driven in part by the interest … Read more

The High Court has refused an application to strike out or summarily dismiss a claim for fraudulent misrepresentation in the group litigation against Volkswagen arising from the well-known “Dieselgate” emissions scandal. The court held that conscious awareness of the alleged implied misrepresentation was not necessary for the claim to have a real prospect of success … 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

In the context of a claim brought by the victim of a fraud against the perpetrator, seeking damages for consequential loss of investment opportunity in relation to certain fraudulent transactions, the Court of Appeal has dismissed an appeal by the fraudster who had argued that the victim was obliged to give credit not only for … Read more

The English court has seen numerous mass tort claims brought by large groups of claimants against UK companies, often in the energy or extractive industries, relating to the activities of their subsidiaries overseas. The Supreme Court has dismissed jurisdiction challenges in a number of these claims and has provided some clarification of when a parent … Read more

The Court of Appeal has allowed a party to proceed with an action seeking to set aside a default judgment against him in earlier proceedings on the basis that the judgment was procured by fraud. The fact that, prior to the original proceedings, the party was aware of the factual circumstances now relied on to … Read more