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Our lawyers contribute regularly to industry and legal journals in addition to writing legal briefings, newsletters and case reports for clients and contacts. All of our articles are free to read and download here.
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IMPORTANT CHANGES TO PROFESSIONAL INDEMNITY INSURANCE – APPROVED INSPECTORS
As you will be aware, the professional indemnity insurance market has hardened in recent years and this trend looks set to continue. Challenges include significantly reduced capacity, increased premiums and restrictions in cover across the market. Following these recent trends, the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (the “MHCLG”) pursuant to 47(6) of the… Read More >
Aggregation – the meaning of “one series of related acts or omissions”
In Baines and others v Dixon Coles & Gill and others (6 August 2021) the Court of Appeal held that claims made against a firm of solicitors for the misappropriation of client funds by a former dishonest partner could not be aggregated as one claim under the relevant professional indemnity insurance policy. The Court of… Read More >
International Arbitration Growing In Popularity Despite The Covid-19 Pandemic
Despite the ongoing disruption caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, the popularity of international arbitration continues to grow. Many of the leading arbitration centres have seen steady increases in referrals in recent years, with both the London Court of International Arbitration (‘LCIA’) and the Singapore International Arbitration Centre (‘SIAC’) reporting record numbers of cases in 2020.… Read More >
Implications for Defendants and their Insurers – Lloyd v Google
Background In Lloyd v Google LLC [2021] UKSC 50, Mr Lloyd, former ‘Which’ magazine editor and FCA board member, claimed Google breached the Data Protection Act 1998 (“the DPA 1998”) through Google’s collection and sale of browser generated information from 4.4million iPhone users without their consent. Mr Lloyd sought to bring a class action against… Read More >
Court declares that the Environment Agency must take action to reduce emissions
We have been instructed in many cases by landfill site operators, where local communities expressed dissatisfaction with the Environment Agency’s regulation of a landfill site. Our experience is that the EA is rarely called to account. However, a recent case concerning a landfill site in Staffordshire suggest that Regulators are set to face closer scrutiny… Read More >
Cladding Claim avoids strike out
CASE REPORT: Crest Nicholson Operations Ltd & Anor v Grafik Architects Ltd & Anor [2021] EWHC 2948 (TCC) A recent unsuccessful application for strike out has shed light on the Court’s attitude towards the threshold for strike out in terms of lack of particularisation of a claim. The judgment made specific reference to this threshold… Read More >
Case Report: BASF Corporation & Ors v Carpmaels and Ransford
The claimants in this case claimed to have suffered US$1.2bn in lost profits from the defendant’s accepted failure to file an appeal in time against a patent revocation. In an interesting judgment dated 29 October, Mr Justice Adam Johnson held that the claimants failed to establish that a duty of care was owed to those… Read More >
MEDIATION – A MANDATORY STEP?
Earlier this year, on the 25th anniversary of Lord Woolf’s landmark Access to Justice report, the Ministry of Justice issued a call for evidence seeking views from the judiciary, the legal profession, mediators and court users, and anyone who has experience of dispute resolution both within and outside the court system on how mediation can… Read More >
Reports from the courts – November 2021
Andrew Croft and Ben Spannuth of Beale & Company Solicitors LLP. One judgment reinforces the view that the courts will support ‘the natural and ordinary meaning of the words used’ commercial agreements; and in a Scottish case the judgment warns against ‘contrived or technical defences’ which the courts will ‘examine with a degree of scepticism’.… Read More >
Conflicts, Collusion, Conceptual Confusion: Integri Consultants Limited v Midlothian Council
Introduction In this case, Integri raised an action against Midlothian Council for payment of sums due under contracts for services. This judgment of the Scottish Court of Session, delivered on 20 October 2021, effectively dealt with an application to strike out part of the Defendant’s case. The Court essentially considered two questions – (1) whether… Read More >