In this 14th episode of our series of commercial litigation update podcasts, we look at the most recent decisions on trial witness statements, a decision on what parties can do when they have received a draft judgment under embargo, upcoming changes to the circumstances in which proceedings can be served on parties outside the jurisdiction ..read more

The High Court has granted summary judgment to an aviation services provider for the recovery of unpaid sums under a novated contract. In so doing, the court held that a contractual clause which required three months’ written notice to terminate posed no bar to the implied novation of the contract, despite the absence of a ..read more

The High Court has considered when the rules in the recast Brussels Regulation will continue to apply to English proceedings commenced post-Brexit: Simon v Tache [2022] EWHC 1674 (Comm). The decision confirms that, pursuant to article 67 of the EU-UK Withdrawal Agreement, the “lis pendens” provisions in the recast Brussels Regulation continue to apply in ..read more

Adding to the run of recent cases involving fraud or theft of cryptoassets, the High Court has granted an order restraining “persons unknown” from dissipating NFTs allegedly stolen from the claimant’s cryptoasset wallet: Lavinia Deborah Osbourne v (1) Persons Unknown (2) Ozone [2022] EWHC 1021 (Comm). (The decision dates from March this year, but the ..read more

The High Court has held that a notice of termination served in April 2020, following the outset of the Covid-19 pandemic, under a force majeure (“FM”) clause in a contract for sale of a vessel was not valid: NKD Maritime Ltd v Bart Maritime (No. 2) Inc [2022] EWHC 1615 (Comm). This decision turned on ..read more

The Court of Appeal has confirmed that Damages-Based Agreements (or DBAs) cannot be used by defendants as, under s.58AA of the Courts and Legal Services Act 1990, the agreement must provide for payment to the lawyer if the client “obtains a specified financial benefit” from the litigation: Candey Ltd v Tonstate Group Ltd [2022] EWCA ..read more

In a recent decision, the Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) held that an email was protected by without prejudice privilege, where it sought to resolve a dispute about interpretation of a contractual indemnity as well as various commercial issues: Sportradar AG v Football Dataco Ltd [2022] CAT 29. The without prejudice rule means that evidence of ..read more

The Court of Appeal has held that claims brought in the English court by over 200,000 claimants arising out of the 2015 collapse of the Fundão Dam in Brazil can proceed, overturning the High Court’s decision which had struck out the claims as an abuse of process in light of concurrent proceedings and compensation schemes ..read more

The High Court has held that reliance issues should be heard at the second trial, with defendant liability issues to be heard in the first, in a claim brought pursuant to s.90A and Sch.10A of the Financial Services and Markets Act (FSMA): Various Claimants v G4S Limited [2022] EWHC 1742 (Ch). In securities class actions, claimants ..read more