Insights: Publications - November 2018

In February 2018, the National Crime Agency (NCA) successfully obtained two Unexplained Wealth Orders (UWO) on properties in the UK – one in the exclusive Knightsbridge area of London and the second, a golf course in Berkshire, collectively worth £22 million. The first target of the UWOs challenged the UWOs on a variety of grounds […]

In its recent decision in the North Midland[1]case, the Court of Appeal upheld a contractual provision that would mean that the contractor was not entitled to an extension of time to the completion date for any period of concurrent delay for which the contractor was responsible.  It would be unsurprising if contract draughtsmen took this […]

“We are all trying to hack out a pathway through a dense thicket of amended legislation, burgeoning case law and ever-changing standard form contracts.” Sir Rupert Jackson, S&T (UK) Ltd v Grove Developments Ltd [2018] EWCA Civ 2448 In a highly anticipated and significant judgment, the Court of Appeal has upheld the decision of Coulson […]

For decades, modern methods of construction, including off-site, have been seen as the future of the industry. Yet, perhaps because of the stigma of low quality construction from the 1940s and 1950s when the focus was on quantity rather than quality, that vision was never really embraced. Now there are signs that industry is making […]

Gone are the days of communicating via smoke signals and carrier pigeons.  Billions of emails are sent every day. Telecommunications is therefore of vital importance to most, if not all, 21st century businesses. Many tenants’ focus is therefore on their ability to extend the telecommunications services at their premises. Broadly speaking, tenants are in a […]

For over a century, it has been well settled in English law that a company has its own legal personality entirely separate from that of its shareholders and directors who are, by virtue of the “corporate veil”, protected from being personally liable for the company’s debts and other obligations. Attempts to look behind the corporate […]

As previously reported (‘Restrictions in lease agreements: Competition law matters’) Heathrow Airport (HAL) recently found itself in the cross-hairs of the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) for having breached the competition law rules.  HAL was held to have included provisions in its head lease agreements with the hotel operator Arora which restricted Arora’s freedom to […]

The Court of Appeal for England and Wales was asked to consider a case where two companies were using the same name in different territories, both legitimately, but one decided to exploit traffic mistakenly hitting its website by using targeted ads[1] The dispute involved two businesses who shared the “Argos” name, but on different sides […]

In 2017, the Court of Justice of the European Union’s decision in Coty delivered a boost for brand owners wishing to control, via selective distribution arrangements, the e-commerce platforms through which their products were sold to consumers (see ‘Coty scents competition law victory for brand owners’).  In its judgment the ECJ said that it could […]

Last week the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) announced was minded to find against ComparetheMarket (CtM) (the company that increased our knowledge of meerkats) for enforcing “most favoured nation” clauses with home insurers that are anti-competitive.  If upheld, the CMA’s provisional ruling will result in the offending clauses being declared void and CtM could be […]

Last month the Law Society published guidance (found here) for solicitors, concerning civil and commercial cooperation between the UK and EU member states in the event of a “no deal” Brexit. In short, in the event that the UK exits the EU’s institutional structures immediately/without a transition period, cooperation between the legal regimes of the […]

When a commercial tenant no longer requires their premises and they want to dispose of the property to a third party they can either assign (sell) their interest in the lease or grant an underlease.  There are many factors which should be taken into consideration when deciding how to dispose of the lease and in […]