Dispute Resolution

The recent outbreak of the Omicron variant of the Coronavirus has caused disruption to many businesses during their busiest trading period and will undoubtedly have resulted in some being unable to comply with their contractual obligations. If there is a breach of contract the usual remedy would be for the innocent party to sue the […]

The recently reported case of Total Extraction Ltd v Aircentric Ltd highlights that the courts will not tolerate any abuse of its procedures. In that case Total Extraction issued a claim through the Court’s Money Claim Online (MCOL) system for an alleged debt owed by Aircentric. Before the time for Aircentric to acknowledge the claim […]

The long-awaited draft legislation from the Government, the Commercial Rent (Coronavirus) Bill, has been published along with an updated “Code of Practice for property relationships following the COVID-19 pandemic”. Whilst the Bill is still in the early stages of the legislative process (it is now in the second reading in the House of Commons with […]

In insurance contracts the proposer will normally have to complete a proposal form and the insurer then uses the information contained on the form to calculate the premium and terms and conditions of the policy.  The policyholder therefore has a duty to make fair presentation of the risk to the insurer and include disclosure of […]

The Court of Appeal has recently overturned a decision which had made Blackpool Football Club (“the Club”) vicariously liable for the actions of one of its footballing scouts. In the case of Blackpool Football Club Limited v DSN, the Claimant was aged 13 when he was sexually abused by Frank Roper, a football talent scout, […]

In commercial contracts it is usual for the parties to limit the time in which they can bring claims against each other under the contract, these are known as “time bar clauses”.  This type of clause was recently considered by the High Court in the case of Arab Lawyers Network Company Limited v Thomson Reuters […]

On 12 July 2021, the Civil Justice Council (CJC) published its report on compulsory alternative dispute resolution (ADR) following the Master of the Rolls requesting the same in January 2021. ADR is an umbrella term used to describe methods used to attempt to resolve a dispute without needing to go to a final court hearing; […]

In the recent case of Poundland Limited v Toplain Limited, the Court considered whether the insertion of ‘pandemic clauses’ in a new business lease would be fair and reasonable. The tenant, Poundland Limited (Poundland) initiated the lease renewal and the parties sought from the Court determination of the terms of the new lease. Poundland proposed […]

On 5 July 2021, the Court of Appeal overturned the decision of the lower High Court in the case of Capitol Park Leeds Plc and Capitol Park Barnsley Limited -v- Global Radio Services Limited [2021]. This case considered the validity of exercising a break clause by the tenant, Global Radio Services Limited (Global Radio). On 15 […]

The recent case of Beattie Passive Norse Limited v Canham Consulting Limited demonstrates the importance of establishing causation in any claim. In that case, Beattie Passive Norse Limited (BPN) brought a professional negligence claim against Canham, arising from defective foundation designs prepared by Canham for two blocks of terraced housing owned by BPN. BPN pursued […]

The pandemic has caused serious problems for both landlords and tenants, particularly those operating in the non-essential retail sector who have had to endure numerous closures during the past year. Since March 2020 many commercial tenants have withheld the payment of rent using the COVID restrictions as justification. The landlords’ usual routes for the recovery […]

A litigant in person has been ordered to pay almost £100,000 in costs after the High Court ruled that unrepresented litigants cannot expect special treatment from the Court. In the recent case of Sir Henry Royce Memorial Foundation v Hardy, Mark Hardy, the former Finance Director of the Foundation, brought an unsuccessful claim against its […]