In a recent judgment, the High Court held that a clause in a settlement agreement requiring immediate payment of all outstanding amounts in the event of a late payment (an acceleration clause) was capable of falling within the penalty doctrine, but an obligation to pay a daily sum accruing pro rata on any outstanding amounts … Read more

On 6 September 2021, the government published its response to the 2019 consultation paper, Extending Fixed Recoverable Costs in Civil Cases: Implementing Sir Rupert Jackson’s Proposals (considered here). The response notes that it has been delayed principally due to the COVID-19 pandemic. As the name suggests, a fixed recoverable costs (FRC) regime fixes the amount … Read more

The High Court has rejected a challenge to its jurisdiction brought by a defendant who was found to be domiciled in England, and who was also a party to ongoing Ukrainian insolvency proceedings: WWRT Ltd v Tyshchenko [2021] EWHC 939 (Ch). The court found that, since the court had jurisdiction based on the defendant’s domicile … Read more

The High Court has ordered a claimant to disclose its lawyer’s attendance note (or notes) of discussions with one of the defendant’s employees, on the basis that the notes were “impliedly mentioned” in the claimant’s witness statement and the claimant had waived privilege: Scipharm SARL v Moorfields Eye Hospital Foundation Trust [2021] EWHC 2079 (Comm). … Read more

In a recent decision the Technology and Construction Court has held that, in most cases, the Issues for Disclosure under Practice Direction 51U (the Disclosure Pilot) must be pleaded issues that have been crystallised in the statements of case. However, the court stressed that not all issues that appear in the statements of case will … Read more

On 18 August 2021 the Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) approved the first application for a collective proceedings order (CPO) under the UK’s competition class action regime introduced in 2015, in Merricks v MasterCard. The application was initially turned down by the CAT in 2017 but was remitted to it following a series of appeals, to … Read more

The Court of Appeal has held that an offer to settle which left some matters to be resolved could nonetheless be treated as a valid Part 36 offer. The court distinguished between purely contractual offers and Part 36 offers which, it pointed out, have their own self-contained code: Adams v Options UK Personal Pensions LLP … 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