Insights: Legal Updates - June 2018

Following the EU Withdrawal Bill officially becoming law, HM Treasury (HMT) published its approach to financial services legislation in the lead up to and immediately following Brexit.  In coordination with that publication, the Bank of England and Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) also published their own statements providing further detail on their roles under the proposed […]

Introduction A landowner has been convicted of a criminal offence and given 150 hours of unpaid work and a fine of almost £20,000, all because of waste left at its property by its tenant. Read on to find out how this happened and how you can avoid making the same mistake. The facts Our unfortunate […]

The English Court has issued a number of recent judgments in respect of arbitration matters and its supervisory powers under the Arbitration Act 1996  We summarise some of the more important decisions emerging, including those relating to “apparent bias” challenges against an arbitrator. Progas Energy Limited v Pakistan [2018] EWHC 209 (Comm) (9 February 2018) […]

In a judgment with potentially wide-reaching commercial ramifications, the Supreme Court in Rock Advertising Limited (Respondent) v MWB Business Exchange Centres Limited (Appellant) [2018] UKSC 24, has overturned the Court of Appeal’s decision by holding that a ‘No Oral Modification’ (NOM) clause was legally effective. In 2011, Rock Advertising Ltd (Rock Advertising) entered into a licence […]

In the recent case of Cultural Foundation (t/a American School of Dubai) & another v Beazley Furlonge Ltd & others, the court considered issues surrounding the notification of insurance claims, where a prospective claim had the potential to fall within two separate notification periods. The case concerned professional indemnity insurance policies that provided insurance to […]

In the recent case of Rehman and Rehman v Santander UK Plc and BNP Paribas Real Estate Advisory and Property Management UK Limited the High Court was asked to consider whether a lender owed a duty of care to a borrower’s guarantors in respect of a valuation report commissioned by the lender. Facts The borrower […]

We now live in a world where identify theft is commonplace and fraudsters are becoming increasingly sophisticated in their pursuit of unsuspecting victims as modern technology helps to facilitate their dastardly deeds. The recent cases of Dreamvar (UK) Ltd v Mishcon de Reya (Dreamvar) and P&P Property Ltd v Owen White and Catlin LLP (P&P) […]

The recent decision in the Kamoto Copper Company SA v (1) Africa Horizons Investments Ltd and (2) Ventora Development SASU case highlights the challenges that a party subjected to US sanctions may face attempting to circumvent an exclusive jurisdiction clause in favour of the English courts. The Claimant, a subsidiary of the mining giant Glencore, […]

In commercial disputes, it is not unusual for the claimant’s losses to be caused (or contributed to) by a number of different parties.  For instance, the claimant may have elected to pursue the party with the deepest pockets, or the loss may have been caused by one of the defendant’s subcontractors.  In such circumstances, the […]

Proposing a Company Voluntary Arrangement (CVA) is currently a popular option for companies facing financial difficulties. Creditors of companies such as BHS, Prezzo, Toys R Us, Maplin, Byron Burgers and New Look have all recently agreed to the companies operating under CVAs. Several other retailers are rumoured to be likely soon to follow suit. The […]