News & Events
News & Events
Inspired by the ever-evolving story of fintech, Chloë Bell showcases her poetic talents to pen a very different kind of advice note looking at injunctions in cryptoasset cases. In this acrostic poem, Chloë reflects on the requirements when making an application for a freezing injunction and the logical conundrum in the ‘Persons Unknown’ case. Norwich Pharmacal relief – Chloë analyses the pragmatic approach taken by the court in the case as well as the conflicting case-law resulting from it. She also considers the questions which require further appellate consideration. The article comments on Jurisdiction and the CPR PD 6B gateways and the Use of expert reports in digital asset injunction applications, as well as asset preservation orders existing as an alternative to…
Legal Blogs 23 Jun, 2021
Since the Covid-19 pandemic began in early 2020, many companies have been faced with disruption to their everyday commercial activities. As a result, litigation concerning the use of force majeure clauses has been on the rise. David E Grant and Anson Cheung consider force majeure in their article on Dwyer v Fredbar. An example of litigation concerning force majeure is Fibula Air Travel SRL v Just-US Air SRL [2020] EWHC 3048; the charterer contended that a lease for the charter of an aircraft had been terminated by force majeure. Another, more recent, example is Dwyer (UK Franchising) Limited v Fredbar Limited [2021] EWHC 1218 (Ch). The claimant entered into a franchise agreement with the first defendant, Fredbar, as franchisee and the second defendant, Mr.…
Covid-19 23 Jun, 2021
Chloë Bell successfully represented the Claimants in obtaining a series of interim proprietary and freezing injunctions in a cryptoasset misappropriation case in the London Circuit Commercial Court and the Central London County Court ((1) Lubin Betancourt Reyes (2) Custodial Management Solutions Limited v (1) Persons Unknown x 3 (2) Tether Holdings Limited (3) Binance Holdings Limited (LM-2021-000083 and H10CL251)) [2021] EWHC 1938 (Comm). The injunctions are a further example of English courts demonstrating commercial pragmatism and flexibility in this fast-developing area of law. They also represent a welcome departure from the problematic position courts had seemingly adopted on serving Norwich Pharmacal and Banker’s Trust orders out of the jurisdiction. The Facts The Claimants were intending to pay a business contact for services provided…
News 23 Jun, 2021
James Counsell QC represented Dr Ashish Dutta throughout his fitness to practise hearing, the subsequent appeal and then the decision on costs. The decision is one of the first successful contested applications for costs made against the GMC under the revised FTP rules. The Medical Practitioners Tribunal (“MPT”), the tribunal which deals with disciplinary cases against doctors on behalf of the General Medical Council (“GMC”), made an order that the GMC should pay the doctor’s costs of defending proceedings which ought not to have been brought. Its determination can be read here. James Counsell represented Dr Ashish Dutta throughout his fitness to practise (“FTP”) hearing, the subsequent appeal and then the decision on costs. The Tribunal heard that Dr Dutta, a cosmetic…
News 23 Jun, 2021
Bianca Venkata examines the Financial Conduct Authority perimeter and cryptoassets in the context of the FCA Handbook and The Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and Transfer of Funds (Information on the Payer) Regulations 2017 (“MLRs”). In her article, Bianca also considers the Financial Conduct Authority’s approach to territoriality, the application of the FSMA Financial Promotions Order (SI 2005/1529) and the regulatory approach taken by the United States. There have been calls for there to be more regulation of cryptoassets due to their price volatility and soaring popularity. For instance, Bitcoin in April 2011 was valued at £0.71 (USD$ 1) but on 26 May 2021 at £27,352 (USD$ 38,694.14). There is also a risk that criminals and terrorists may exploit cryptoassets. However, it…
Legal Blogs 22 Jun, 2021
Alex Haines and Sophie O’Sullivan have recently been instructed to act for a senior international civil servant at the African Union Commission (AUC) in relation to a number of ongoing matters, including disciplinary proceedings involving serious allegations of multi-million pound misappropriation of African Union (AU) funds and false accounting. Barristers in Outer Temple Chambers’ International Team are frequently instructed in cases involving international organisations whose disciplinary and regulatory frameworks are often little known about. International Organisations are established by treaty and possess their own international legal personalities. They also enjoy immunity from suit and – through the application of inter alia international human rights law – most have set up internal justice systems that deal with institutional matters. The African Union The AU is a…
News 22 Jun, 2021
Today, the Supreme Court handed down the eagerly anticipated judgment of Khan v Meadows [2021] UKSC 21. Eliot Woolf QC acted on behalf of the Claimant, instructed by Jacqui Hayat at Taylor Rose MW. Khan v Meadows raised a novel question unanswered in wrongful birth jurisprudence: if a child born with two disabilities would not have been born were it not for a doctor’s failure to advise of the risk of being born with one of those disabilities, can the mother recover the cost of both disabilities or is she restricted to those associated with the disability about which the doctor failed to advise? In Khan, the Claimant gave birth to a child with haemophilia and autism. Before the claimant became pregnant, she consulted her GP to determine whether…
News 18 Jun, 2021
The High Court gives important judgment in Punter Southall Governance Services Ltd v Hazlett [2021] EWHC 1652 (Ch) in favour of beneficiaries of the Axminster pension scheme represented by Andrew Short QC and Stephen Butler (instructed by Osborne Clarke LLP). This is a key judgment on limitation and interest in trust and pension claims. Morgan J held: that there is no applicable limitation period in a claim by a beneficiary against trustees for an account of arrears where the trustee is still in possession of trust property; and that the court has the power to award interest on payments of equitable compensation for breach of trust where a breach of trust claim is brought following underpayment of pension. The court also gave important guidance on the…
News 18 Jun, 2021
The High Court yesterday granted permission to bring judicial review proceedings in The Queen (On the Application of ZLL) v The London Borough of Camden. Joshua Hitchens acts for the Claimant instructed by Derek Bernardi of Camden Community Law Centre. The case relates to the accommodation of homeless people during the pandemic and whether leaving the homeless on the streets during Covid-19 is automatically a breach of the rough sleeper’s rights under Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights. Camden considers that the “Everyone In” programme instigated by central government in March 2020, requiring all those at risk of rough sleeping to be accommodated has come to an end. It asserts that only those who have Covid-19 or are symptomatic, those rough…
News 16 Jun, 2021
Having acted as counsel in Britvic plc v Britvic Pensions Limited & Simon Mohun [2021] EWHC Civ 867, Philip Stear has written a case summary explaining why the Court of Appeal overturned the previous decision and why a scheme employer could direct increases lower than RPI on the true construction of the scheme’s pension increase rules. In a ruling handed down on 10 June 2021 ([2021] EWCA Civ 867), the Court of Appeal has overturned the High Court decision in Britivc plc v Britvic Pensions Limited & Simon Mohun [2020] EWHC 118 (Ch). There, His Honour Judge Hodge QC had held that the words “or any other rate”, in a pension increase rule, were to be construed as meaning “any higher rate”, as a…
News 15 Jun, 2021
Ian Denham has been instructed by Jatinder Paul, Senior Associate Solicitor in the International Serious Injury team at Irwin Mitchell, to represent the family of a two-year-old girl who died after she contracted a bacterial infection following a holiday to Turkey. Miss Birchall suffered gastric illness including stomach cramps and diarrhoea shortly after she returned from a 10-day stay in Antalya with her family. She was admitted to hospital, where she was diagnosed with Shiga-Toxin producing E.Coli (STEC). She subsequently developed Haemolytic Uraemic Syndrome (HUS), a serious and potentially fatal blood condition linked to STEC, which can result in kidney failure and brain damage. She sadly died on 3 August 2019. At the recent Pre Inquest Review hearing, in Manchester, the Coroner…
News 15 Jun, 2021
The Court of Justice of the European Union gives important judgment in favour of several thousand female and male workers represented by Keith Bryant QC, Naomi Cunningham, Stephen Butler and Chloë Bell (instructed by Harcus Sinclair UK Limited, part of Harcus Parker) bringing equal pay claims against Tesco. This is a seminal judgment on the scope of equal pay protections to which workers in England and Wales must now be entitled in domestic courts and tribunals; Article 157 TFEU has direct effect in equal pay claims based on work of equal value. The claimants, represented by the team from Outer Temple Chambers, are all store-based employees or former employees of Tesco Stores Ltd. They claim that they are paid significantly less than the approximately 11,000 employees…
News 3 Jun, 2021
