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Service: Life after Mitchell?

Maura McIntosh reports on a recent decision in the Commercial Court ‘CPR 3.10 was to be “construed as of wide effect so as to be available to be used beneficially wherever the defect has had no prejudicial effect on the other party”.’In what may be seen as a surprising decision, the Commercial Court has treated …
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Injunctions: Remedial work

Jeremy Glover reviews recent case law on interim injunctions ‘The primary commercial expectation must be that the parties will perform their obligations. The expectations created by an exclusion or limitation clause are expectations about what damages will be recoverable in the event of breach, something rather different.’ In the case of AB v CD [2014], …
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Financial Services: Show me the money

Helen Mulcahy and Davina Bentley consider a recent ruling in relation to claims made to the Financial Ombudsman ‘Complainants who issue both a complaint to the Financial Ombudsman and a litigation claim will have to be careful to avoid using the same facts and causes of action. However, the burden of showing that the requirements …
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Legislation: Cold outside?

Alex Fox and Sarah Mant discuss the chilling effect of the Lobbying Act 2014 ‘The Transparency of Lobbying, Non-party Campaigning and Trade Union Administration Act limits third party spending on “controlled expenditure”. That is, spending on campaigning which can “reasonably be regarded as intended to promote or procure electoral success”.’ On 30 January, the Transparency …
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Procedure: The quality of mercy

Owain Rhys James brings a view from the Bar on the ‘Mitchell principles’ ‘The court’s hardline stance on non-compliance, proactive involvement in case management and the tougher regime for granting relief has created a number of potentially fatal hurdles for litigators.’ The Jackson reforms brought about a sweeping reform of civil litigation generally. However, it …
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Costs: Party time?

Richard Marshall and Clare Arthurs look at developments in non-party costs orders and parties to proceedings ‘The courts will take pragmatic and flexible approach to ensure that justice is done in individual case. In Threlfall they ensured that the wronged party was not left out of pocket and in Pintorex they prevented a successful claimant …
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Privilege: Fight the good fight

Davinia Brennan examines recent case law on litigation privilege ‘Starbev [2013] is a useful reminder of the scope of litigation privilege. It demonstrates the difficulties of proving that anticipated litigation was the dominant purpose of a document.’ A recent UK High Court case serves as a reminder of the risks of instructing non-legal advisers in …
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Practice: Joint tortfeasors – avoiding the trap for the unwary

Geraldine Elliott and Nigel Brook guide claimants through the tortious jungle ‘The surveyors were joint tortfeasors with the council and authority, meaning the settlement agreement released Gladman’s cause of action against all of them.’ In Gladman Commercial Properties v Fisher Hargreaves Proctor [2013] the claimant had entered into a settlement agreement with one of several …
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Directors’ duties: Beggering belief

Maxine Cupitt, Simon Garrett and Barney Hearnden examine the lessons to be learned from Madoff ‘In Madoff Securities International Ltd (In Liquidation) v Raven [2013] the judge looked through the now legendary frauds of Madoff to arrive at a practical evaluation of the directors’ obligations given all the circumstances.’ In the recent decision of Madoff …
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Practice: Shine a light?

Rustam Dubash and Clare Arthurs report on recent developments in relief from sanctions ‘The courts will no longer indulge parties if they fail to comply with their procedural obligations. Instead, the more robust approach to compliance and relief from sanctions is intended to ensure that justice can be done in the majority of cases’. Clarity …
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