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Serle Court “offers a variety of skill sets that others can’t provide, and houses some of the biggest names at the Bar”
Area of Law: Company
James Mather and Mark Wraith appeared for the successful appellant in Malik v Hussain [2023] EWCA Civ 2, in which the Court of Appeal held that where there was a term requiring contracts to be exchanged within seven days of payment of the deposit by a successful bidder that only required the bidder to exchange within seven days of being presented with a contract in a form capable of being present with a contract in a form capable of being executed and exchanged. The issue arose in the context of a long-running partnership and company dispute concerning the ownership of a prominent restaurant business in Manchester. In previous trials James and Mark successfully established the disputed existence of the partnership and that the claimant was entitled to require an open market sale of the relevant assets rather than a buy-out at a valuation determined by the court.
Read MoreArea of Law: International and Offshore
The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council has handed down its advice in Jean-Charles v The Attorney General of The Bahamas and ors [2022] UKPC 51. The decision establishes that a constitutional challenge may be made in an action for habeas corpus and that separate legal proceedings are not required.
Read MoreArea of Law: Commercial Litigation
On 30 November, Mr Justice Foxton sitting in the Commercial Court, KBD handed down judgment in the matter of Ticehurst & Ors v Harbour Fund II LP & Ors [2022] EWHC 3053 (Comm). Elizabeth Jones KC, instructed by Harcus Parker led Daniel Saoul KC (4 New Square), and Richard Hoyle and Lorraine Aboagye (Essex Court) on behalf of Harbour.
Read MoreArea of Law: Private Client Trusts and Probate
The Privy Council has today handed down judgment allowing the appeals of Dr Winston Wong, Riley Wong and Tony Wang in the conjoined appeals of Grand View Private Trust Co Ltd and another (Respondents) v Wong and others [2022] UKPC 47. In one of the most important trusts law judgments in recent years the Board unanimously held that the exercise of a power adding and excluding beneficiaries was void on the basis that it was inconsistent with the purpose for which the power was conferred. The judgment has important implications for the exercise of fiduciary powers more generally. Of the eleven barristers from English chambers who appeared in the Privy Council, eight were from Serle Court: Dakis Hagen KC, Emma Hargreaves and Stephanie Thompson (instructed by Baker & McKenzie (London) and ASW Law Limited (Bermuda)) acted for the appellants in the first appeal; Richard Wilson KC, James Weale and Charlotte Beynon (instructed by Stewarts, MJM Limited (Bermuda) and Baker McKenzie (Taipei)) acted for the appellant in the second appeal; Jonathan Adkin KC and Adil Mohamedbhai acted for the respondent in both appeals (instructed by Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom (London) and Conyers Dill & Pearman (Bermuda)).
Read MoreArea of Law: Company
Five members of Serle Court appeared in the recent case of Guy’s & St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust and Anor v ESMS Global Limited and Ors [2022] EWHC 2491 (Comm), on both sides of an application to strike out the Claim and for reverse summary judgment.
Read MoreArea of Law: Insolvency
On 11 November 2022 Mr Justice Zacaroli handed down judgment (available here) in respect of applications for directions by the office-holders of 10 failed energy suppliers.
Read MoreArea of Law: UAE & DIFC Litigation
Zoe O’Sullivan KC and Gregor Hogan acted in the DIFC Court for the successful respondent in Al Buhaira National Insurance Co v Horizon Energy LLC CFI 098/2021 (9 November 2022), obtaining the dismissal of Al Buhaira’s application for an anti-suit injunction preventing Horizon from pursuing parallel proceedings in Sharjah. This important judgment contains valuable consideration of the role of comity when the DIFC Court is called upon to address conflicts of jurisdiction between the different courts of the UAE.
Read MoreArea of Law: Private Client Trusts and Probate
The Privy Council today handed down a landmark judgment in trusts law in the cases of ITG Ltd v Fort Trustees Ltd and Equity Trust (Jersey) Ltd v Halabi, holding that a trustee’s right of indemnity gives them a proprietary interest in the trust assets which survives cessation of trusteeship, but, by a 4 to 3 majority and allowing the appeals, that, if the trust assets are insufficient to satisfy the claims of all trustees, the liens of the trustees rank pari passu among themselves rather than on a first in time basis.
Read MoreArea of Law: Insolvency
Lance Ashworth KC and Wilson Leung, instructed by Stephenson Harwood LLP, acted for the successful respondent in Dusoruth v Orca Finance UK Ltd (in liquidation) [2022] EWHC 2346 (Ch).
Read MoreArea of Law: Insolvency
The High Court has found that myriad claims against the former directors of BHS fall to be struck out in the context of the high-value, complex litigation being brought by the joint liquidators of the BHS companies against the former directors of those companies.
Read MoreArea of Law: Private Client Trusts and Probate
In The Executor of HRH the Prince Philip Duke of Edinburgh v HM Attorney General and Guardian News and Media [2022] EWCA Civ 1081 the Court of Appeal held that the President of the Family Division had been entitled to conclude that an application to have the will of His Royal Highness Prince Phillip, Duke of Edinburgh sealed should be heard in private, and that he had been entitled to make that decision without inviting submissions from representatives of the media.
Read MoreArea of Law: Insolvency
People facing bankruptcy, and their advisers, will gain more clarity on the long-term legal risks involved thanks to an appeal judgment handed down this morning. In Kennedy v The Official Receiver [2022] EWHC 1973 (Ch), Mr Nicholas Thompsell (sitting as a Deputy High Court Judge) clarified the Court’s approach to determining the length of a Bankruptcy Restrictions Order (“BRO”) under S 281A and Schedule 4A of the Insolvency Act 1986.
Read MoreArea of Law: Company
In a judgment handed down this morning, Deputy (former Chief) Master Marsh dismissed an application for summary judgment made by Dr Rohit Kulkarni, a consultant orthopaedic surgeon who is a minority shareholder in the company which owns St Joseph’s Hospital in Newport, Gwent. The summary judgment application, which has been issued before the defendants had filed defences, was based in part on the compulsory share transfer provisions of a shareholders’ agreement between Dr Kulkarni and the majority shareholder, Gwent Holdings Limited. Dr Kulkarni claimed that Gwent had committed irremediable breaches of the shareholders’ agreement, thus triggering the compulsory transfer provisions. In his judgment in Kulkarni v Gwent Holdings Limited and St Joseph's Independent Hospital Limited [2022] EWHC 1368 (Ch), Deputy Master Marsh refused to order the rectification of the company’s register of members under section 125 of the Companies Act 2006 with retrospective effect. He went on to refuse to grant relief entitling Dr Kulkarni to acquire Gwent’s shares compulsorily, noting at [92] that “the issue of remediability is unlikely to be suitable for determination in most cases on a summary basis because, as in this case, the court does not have all the evidence it needs to make a determination about the proper construction of the contract and whether on the specific facts the breach was remediable”.
Read MoreArea of Law: Charities
On 27 May 2022, The Supreme Court granted permission to appeal to the London Borough of Merton Council from the decision of the Court of Appeal in Nuffield Health v Merton [2022] Ch 1.
Read MoreArea of Law: Intellectual Property
Michael Edenborough KC and Stephanie Wickenden (assisted by Stefano Braschi at trial and Anneliese Mondschein on appeal) acted for easyGroup in a case where for the first time a defendant was held liable for using a non-orange Sign in relation to non-travel services. Permission to appeal to the CoA has been granted on two other points.
Read MoreArea of Law: Intellectual Property
Michael Edenborough KC leading outside junior counsel acted for the successful appellants on whether certain advertisements and offers for sale on amazon.com targeted the UK and the EU. The result meant that certain advertisements on the amazon.com site were held to constitute use of the infringing signs within the UK / EU27. Further, sales from the amazon.com site to customers located in the UK / EU27 also constituted actionable use. This result has far reaching consequences on how internet businesses who have customers located in several countries need to conduct their trade in those various jurisdictions. The Supreme Court heard Amazon’s appeal in November 2023.
Read MoreArea of Law: Intellectual Property
Thomas Elias and John Eldridge appeared against each other in an IP licensing case concerning literary works posted on a website.
Read MoreArea of Law: Intellectual Property
Michael Edenborough KC acted pro bono publico in this case that dealt with the hitherto unresolved point about the assignment of the legal and equitable interest in an invention, prior to it being encapsulated in a patent application.
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