Read the articles:

A brave new world? – the online civil procedure rules committee and digitisation of the courts 

The Ministry of Justice and the senior judiciary intend to introduce "digital justice" comprising end to end online dispute resolution, as part of the £1 billion programme to holistically reform civil and family court proceedings.

Read the full article

Costs awards – when conduct may be relevant

Generally English courts will order that the loser pays the winner's costs.  However, a losing party may raise aspects of the overall conduct of the case by the winning party in order to argue that the winner's costs should be reduced, disallowed or shifted.

Read the full article

New jurisdictional gateway announced to assist victims of cryptocurrency fraud

In a speech on issues in cryptocurrency fraud claims at the Crypto Disputes Conference on 29 June 2022, His Honour Judge Pelling QC announced a new Gateway to be incorporated into CPR Practice Direction 6B, which aims to assist victims of cryptocurrency fraud in overcoming jurisdictional issues in bring claims against fraudsters based outside of England and Wales.

Read the full article

'Six covers please!': restaurant group wins heated dispute about coverage for covid business interruption losses 

In February 2022, the Commercial Court held that a denial of access (non-damage) (NDDA) clause within a business interruption insurance policy: (i) did provide cover for losses as a result of access to premises being restricted (in this case as a result of various COVID lockdowns), and (ii) that the policy in question could be analysed as a composite policy, with each insured entity having a separate insurable interest, represented by the venue it owned.

Read the full article

Communications with experts: a cautionary tale

In a recent judgment, ANDREWS V KRONOSPAN LTD, [2022] EWHC 479 (QB) the claimants' permission to rely on their expert's evidence was revoked after the court determined it had no confidence in the expert's ability to act in accordance with his obligations as an expert witness, following serious transgressions by the claimants' solicitors and the expert in their communications on drafts of the joint experts' report. 

Read the full article

Evidence to prove a debt claim: it's all in the detail

Any claimant seeking to recover a sum of money must not only (1) establish the defendant's liability, but must also (2) evidence the sum of money claimed (including how the sum has been calculated). Failure to record and disclose evidence of the sum and its calculation can be fatal to recovery.

Read the full article

Quincecare duty not engaged where banks only have general "red flag" concerns which are not specific to the payment instruction itself

In the latest in the recent series of Quincecare cases, on 14 June 2022 the High Court dismissed the Federal Republic of Nigeria (the FRN)'s $1.7bn Quincecare claim against JPMorgan (the Bank), finding that the Quincecare duty did not arise and, even if it had, the Bank would not have breached it.

Read the full article

Injunctive relief: do not delay!

In February 2015, Mr Gilligan commenced employment with Planon Ltd (Planon), a company which specialises in the development and sale of facilities management software. Mr Gilligan's employment contract contained a post-termination restriction that prevented him from working for any competitors of Planon for a period of 12 months.

Read the full article

Personal emails, but not so private?

The boundaries between work and personal life have become increasingly blurred. So it's unsurprising that employees often use work email addresses to send personal emails.  On the one hand, employees may have a reasonable expectation of privacy in private emails sent from their work email address even where a business bans using a work email address for private purposes. However, how does this expectation fit in with the rights of an employer?

Read the full article

THE BRIEFEST CASE - QUICK UPDATES FOR THOSE DEALING WITH BUSINESS DISPUTES 

The Briefest Case holds several quick updates, highlighting recent useful decisions for those dealing with disputes.

Parties must agree to email as a method of service before service is effected

Waksman J held that the service of a particulars of claim by email was invalid as it had not been agreed between the two parties whether electronic service was to be permitted.

Read the full article

Disclosure application against foreign non-party could not be served out of jurisdiction

The Commercial Court held that it did not have jurisdiction to grant permission to serve a disclosure application outside the jurisdiction on a foreign non-party. 

Read the full article

The importance of getting your redactions right

In JSC Commercial Bank Privatbank v Kolomoisky and others the Court determined that the first defendant should re-review redactions applied to WhatsApp messages he had disclosed as he had adopted an unduly narrow approach to what was relevant. 

Read the full article