Litigation Notes

Is coronavirus likely to be a valid basis for avoiding contractual obligations?

With the continuing rise in the number of cases of novel coronavirus worldwide, in addition to obvious implications of the outbreak for individuals, …

Article published - Legal advice privilege: a dominant purpose test, but to what end?

The Court of Appeal's recent decision in The Civil Aviation Authority v The Queen on the application of Jet2.com Ltd [2020] EWCA Civ 35 found that legal …

Proceedings time barred where claim form issued but not served during applicable foreign limitation period

Drafting contracts: Key lessons from 2019

This annual contract law update from our corporate team considers a number of interesting contract law cases from 2019 which highlighted key points …

Cross-Border Litigation: Latest update published

We are pleased to release the latest issue of our periodic publication "Cross-Border Litigation", designed to highlight legal and practical issues …

Court of Appeal confirms funders' adverse costs liability not limited to amount of funding provided: Arkin "cap" not a binding rule

The Court of Appeal has today dismissed an appeal against a decision that a commercial funder of a failed claim was liable for all of the defendants' …

Court of Appeal decision highlights indemnity costs risk where claimant pursues speculative claims and unreasonably refuses Part 36 offer

In a recent judgment, overturning the High Court's decision, the Court of Appeal has ordered indemnity costs in favour of a successful defendant …

Chancellor of the High Court clarifies aspects of disclosure pilot at disclosure guidance hearing

The Chancellor has taken the opportunity to clarify aspects of the disclosure pilot which is currently underway in the Business and Property Courts under …

Court of Appeal finds regulator cannot demand production of client's privileged documents unless statute overrides privilege

In a judgment handed down this morning, the Court of Appeal has held that an audit client was not required to hand over its privileged documents in …

Court of Appeal confirms “warehousing” a claim will not necessarily constitute an abuse of process

The Court of Appeal has upheld a High Court decision that a claimant’s unilateral decision not to pursue a claim it had commenced for a substantial …

Rule change to clarify default judgment can't be entered if acknowledgement of service or defence filed before judgment

There have been a number of conflicting first instance decisions on the proper interpretation of CPR 12.3, which sets out the conditions for obtaining …

Jurisdiction and enforcement after Brexit transition – latest developments re UK's accession to Hague and Lugano Conventions

As noted in our previous blog post, where English legal proceedings are started before the Brexit transition period comes to an end, most likely on 31 …