The Supreme Court has upheld a decision striking out a claim against a pharmaceutical company for causing loss to the NHS by unlawful means. The alleged unlawful means consisted in obtaining and enforcing a patent for a blood pressure drug through fraudulent misrepresentations to the European Patent Office (“EPO”) and the English court (allegations which … Read more

The Court of Appeal has allowed an appeal by a purchaser in the context of its claim for damages for fraudulent misrepresentation against the sellers of certain business assets that it had acquired. In doing so, the Court of Appeal held that damages for fraudulent misrepresentation should, as a general rule, be assessed by ascertaining … Read more

In what is now the leading authority on the application of the decision in South Australia Asset Management Corpn v York Montague Ltd [1997] AC 191 (SAAMCO), the Supreme Court has held that a mutual building society’s claim for damages for economic loss fell within the scope of its auditor’s duty of care in giving … Read more

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