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Area of Law: Charities
Jonathan Fowles acted with Cain Ormondroyd (Francis Taylor Building) for Merton Council in defending a claim to establish charitable exemption from non-domestic rates for one of Nuffield Health’s fitness and wellbeing centres. The claim succeeded, but the Court of Appeal has given Merton permission to appeal. The case raises important issues about the charitable exemption and the public benefit test in charity law.
Read MoreArea of Law: Insolvency
In Nimat Halal Food Ltd v Patel [2020] EWHC 734 (Ch), Zoe O’Sullivan QC appeared for the creditor in an insolvency case in which Chief ICC Judge Briggs gave guidance on the personal liability of an administrator to pay costs following a creditor’s successful appeal against the
Read MoreArea of Law: Banking and Financial Services
Zoe O’Sullivan KC acted for the successful defendant in a US$170m guarantee claim brought by the Shanghai Shipyard, in which Robin Knowles J held that the guarantee given by it to the Shipyard in respect of the final installment of a shipbuilding contract was not a performance bond but gave rise only to secondary liability: Shanghai Shipyard v Reignwood International Investment (Group) Company Ltd [2020] EWHC 803 (Comm). She is also acted for the shipowner in its 2021 LMAA arbitration claim under the shipbuilding contract.
Read MoreArea of Law: Commercial Litigation
Lance Ashworth QC and Dan McCourt Fritz represented the Respondents in an appeal from the decision of Julia Dias QC as a High Court Judge [2019] EWHC 1951 (Ch). The Court of Appeal held that the Judge had been right to say that agency did not extend to allow the party to enter into the contract as agent for an undisclosed principal. Further, it upheld the Judge’s findings that the relevant agent was not, in any event, intended to be a party to the contract. Appeal was dismissed.
Read MoreArea of Law: Arbitration
In L v B [2020] DIFC ARB 014 (17 June 2020), Rupert Reed QC and Gregor Hogan obtained an order for the recognition of a London arbitration award, a worldwide freezing order and the first notification order made by the DIFC Court against a UAE resident entrepreneur.
Read MoreArea of Law: Civil Fraud
In Christoforou v Christoforou [2020] EWHC 1196 (Ch) the High Court struck out allegations of dishonesty, fraud, and illegality from an Amended Defence and excluded those allegations from consideration (and cross-examination) at trial. Giving judgment HH Judge Stephen Eyre QC (sitting as a High Court Judge) found that the allegations amounted to similar fact of evidence but that they were of “peripheral” value to the Claimant’s claim that a London property is held on trust for him pursuant to a common intention constructive trust. Allowing the allegations to remain, he held, would have greatly increased the cost, and risked an adjournment, of the trial. Daniel Lightman QC and Stephanie Thompson represent the Claimant. The trial is due to take place in July 2020.
Read MoreArea of Law: Civil Fraud
In Ward v Savill [2020] EWHC 1534 (Ch), James Mather acted for the successful defendant in the determination of a preliminary issue on whether declarations obtained in earlier proceedings to which the defendant was not a party that property was held on constructive trust for the claimants could be relied on in future proceedings for purposes of asserting a tracing or following claim against her. The case is due to be heard by the Court of Appeal in March 2021.
Read MoreArea of Law: Partnership and LLP
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Read MoreArea of Law: International and Offshore
In Sofer v SwissIndependent Trustees SA [2020] EWCA Civ 699, Richard Wilson QC and James Weale acted for the respondent in an appeal against an order striking out the claimant’s pleading on the basis that it did not properly particularise a claim in fraud. The Court of Appeal gave important guidance on the pleading requirements of fraud in the context of a dispute against a professional trustee.
Read MoreArea of Law: Company
In Re Dinglis Properties Ltd, Daniel Lightman QC and Gregor Hogan represented the respondents to a section 994 petition. In a landmark judgment in June 2020 ([2020] 2 BCLC 607), Adam Johnson QC (sitting as a deputy High Court Judge) considered the impact of the Covid-19 crisis on the share purchase order which he had previously made.
Read MoreArea of Law: Regulatory and Disciplinary
David Blayney QC and Sophie Holcombe are instructed by PGMBM in relation to the easyJet data breach involving around 9 million of their customers, which was announced by easyJet last month.
Read MoreArea of Law: Insolvency
James Mather acted for the Joint Administrators of an insolvent FCA-regulated international payment services provider in Re Supercapital Ltd [2020] EWHC 1865 (Ch). This involved the first application to seek a court’s approval for a distribution plan under the Payment Services Regulations 2017, on the basis of statutory trust principles applied in the context of other financial services regulations.
Read MoreArea of Law: International and Offshore
Grand Valley General Trading LLC v GGICO Sunteck Ltd DIFC CFI 044/2018, DIFC CA 007/2019 concerns a joint venture dispute in relation to a property development in the Burj Khalifa area in on-shore Dubai. Rupert Reed KC obtained judgments from the DIFC courts on issues as diverse as whether a non-party 50% joint venture partner had standing to apply to set aside a default judgment for the dissolution of the joint venture company; the test of desirability under RDC 20.7 O for joining a new party; and whether the DIFC Courts had jurisdiction over the dispute, including the power to stay proceedings in favour of arbitration under Article 13 of the Arbitration Law.
Read MoreArea of Law: International and Offshore
In IMMS v BankMed SAL [2019] DIFC CA 013, Rupert Reed QC and Gregor hogan acted on the appeal of an interim refusal to grant an injunction freezing assets to the value of USD 755 million. Although the Court declined to find a sufficient risk of dissipation, it is likely to confirm the putative jurisdiction of the DIFC Courts to grant interim relief in support of foreign court and arbitral proceedings.
Read MoreArea of Law: International and Offshore
Rupert Reed QC (now KC) and Zoe O'Sullivan QC (now KC) represented the successful claimant in YYY Ltd v ZZZ Ltd [2017] DIFC ARB 005, a landmark decision of the DIFC Court refusing to recognise a decision of the highest Dubai national court on public policy grounds. The DIFC Court held that the Dubai Court of Cassation had breached its obligations under the New York Convention by applying its own law to determine the validity of the clause, rather than the law chosen by the parties. This reaffirms the pro-arbitration bias of the common law courts, and will have importance for arbitration practitioners beyond the DIFC.
Read MoreArea of Law: International and Offshore
In Larmag v First Abu Dhabi Bank [2019] DIFC CA 010, the DIFC Court of Appeal significantly extended the party jurisdiction of the DIFC Courts under Article 5(A)(1)(a) of the Judical Authority Law, ordering disclosure by a UAE bank on the basis that, in being 'recognised' by the Dubai Financial Services Authority in order to trade on NASDAQ Dubai, the Bank was 'authorised' to carry on financial services in the DIFC and therefore a 'Licensed DIFC Establishment'. Rupert Reed QC and Sophia Hurst act for First Abu Dhabi Bank.
Read MoreArea of Law: Property
Christopher Stoner QC appeared in Horsford v Horsford, a 10-day Chancery Division trial, acting for a son who had been sued by his mother for £2.5m for her share in the family farming partnership. The son counterclaimed on the grounds of proprietary estoppel alleging he had given his life over to the farm following a lifetime of assurances it would one day be his.
Read MoreArea of Law: Civil Fraud
Lance Ashworth QC and Dan McCourt Fritz represented the Defendants in a 6-day Chancery Division trial, defeating claims for conspiracy to defraud in connection with the Van Dutch luxury yachts in Taylor v Van Dutch.
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