News & Events
News & Events
Carin Hunt outlines the MOJ’s proposed reforms to the Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme. The proposals seek to better support victims of violent crime, particularly those who suffer historic or current child abuse. The Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme (“the Scheme”) is a statutory scheme that compensates victims of violent crime in England, Scotland and Wales. On 16 July 2020, the MOJ published its first review of the Scheme since 2012, setting out a number of proposals for reform (“the Review”). The Scheme The Scheme is a tariff-based system for determining injury awards for victims of violent crime. A violent crime is defined in Annex B to the Scheme as one of the following acts, if done either intentionally or recklessly: (a)…
Insights 23 Jul, 2020
Sarah Crowther QC explains how protection for consumers cannot be subject to contractual exclusion by insurers. Her landmark personal injury case in Spain provides welcome clarification of the consumer provisions. Introduction The music entertainment industry is enormous business on the island of Ibiza. According to the local industry group, it is worth an eye-watering €20 billion to the economy. Its popularity with the UK market is well-established. Young people flock to Ibiza to relax in the sunshine in the ultimate party town. One such person was Jonathan Hutchinson. The former professional footballer travelled to Ibiza in early summer 2016 for a sunshine holiday. Together with his friend, they purchased tickets to the OBeach ‘dayclub’ in San Antonio, a pool-based music…
Insights 1 Jul, 2020
Daniel Clarke explores the scope of the Rome II Regulation as laid out in Pandya v Intersalonika General Insurance Company. In Pandya v Intersalonika [2020] EWHC 273 (QB) the High Court has given an important decision on the extent to which, in case where a foreign law applies, it is the foreign law (as opposed to English domestic law) which determines the limitation issues. The facts in Pandya were, as in so many cases, very sad. The English-domiciled claimant was just fifteen when on 29 July 2012 she was hit by a motorcycle while crossing the road on holiday in Greece, suffering a serious brain injury. A claim was brought (on her behalf) directly against the motorcyclist’s Greek motor insurer.…
Insights 30 Jun, 2020
IICSA has just produced its fourth Truth Project Thematic report, ‘Child sexual abuse in sports’. Patrick Sadd summarises the key takeaways of the report. The Report As with the first three reports – child sexual abuse in religious institutions (May 2019), in children’s homes and residential care (November 2019) and custodial institutions (April 2020) – this is drawn from the experience of victims and survivors between the 1950s and 2010s, here in the context of organised sports : sports clubs, institutions or associations or organised local sporting activity. The sample is small – of the 3,939 people giving their account between June 2016- March 2020, 2% described sexual abuse in a sports context, of which 91% were abused by sports…
Insights 22 Jun, 2020
Are cryptoassets ‘property’, how should the courts decide and why does it matter? OTC’s commercial team provide a commentary on David Ian Ruscoe and Malcolm Russell Moore v Cryptopia Limited. The judgment of the High Court of New Zealand in David Ian Ruscoe and Malcolm Russell Moore v Cryptopia Limited (in liquidation) [2020] NZHC 728 is the first fully reasoned judgment in the common law world on how cryptoassets should be characterised. That in itself is significant. However, the court’s judgment is also significant for its discussion and recognition of the profound policy and social implications of cryptoassets and their legal characterisation. A commentary on the case In this article Richard Hitchcock QC, Stephen Butler and Chloë Bell consider the importance of…
Insights 12 Jun, 2020
Consideration remains at the heart of contract law in England and Wales but the current crisis throws the unsatisfactory state of the law into sharp relief. Nicholas Hill and Patrick Tomison consider the current state of the law and how it might change to reflect the commercial reality of the 21st Century. In 2018 Lord Sumption JSC said that “[m]odern litigation rarely raises truly fundamental issues in the law of contract”. The Common law’s approach to consideration in contract law is one such issue highlighted by the current crisis. A bird in the hand is better than two in the bush In Revisiting Foakes v Beer, Nicholas Hill and Patrick Tomison revisit the Common law’s approach to the principle of consideration enunciated “in…
Insights 12 Jun, 2020
Tim Prudhoe and Justina Stewart look at the likely implications of the Corporate Insolvency and Governance Bill on several overseas jurisdictions. In the short time since first published (22 May 2020), much electronic ink has been spilt on the most significant reforms introduced by the UK Parliament in a generation to insolvency and restructuring law – the Corporate Insolvency and Governance Bill. Much, though, is still left unsaid as to the likely wider reach outside of the UK of the finished product. The raw material is there for this to have a major impact in several overseas jurisdictions that follow the English common law model (albeit not, directly, its actual statutory regime). In this article, Tim Prudhoe and Justina Stewart highlight the…
Insights 12 Jun, 2020
In March 2020, the European Court of Justice was asked, for the first time, for the proper interpretation of Article 5 of the Blocking Regulation in the case of Bank Melli Iran v Telekom Deutschland GmBH. John McKendrick QC and Alex Haines examine the Bank Melli case and Blocking Regulation below. The Background On 28th November 2018, after US secondary sanctions on Iran came back into force earlier that month, the Hamburg District Court granted an interim injunction in Bank Melli Iran v Telekom Deutschland GmBH 319 O 265/18 on the basis of the EU Blocking Regulation (Council Regulation (EC) No 2271/96). The court ordered Deutsche Telekom, the defendant, to reinstate internet and telephone services to the claimant, Bank Melli Iran, after it had stopped services pursuant…
Insights 3 Jun, 2020
Elaine Palser explores the advantages (which are considerable) and the disadvantages (which are surmountable) of remote mediation and considers what the future holds for settling cases. Remote mediation works Before I took part in my first remote mediation I was sceptical. I was convinced that it would be inferior to in-person mediation. To my surprise, it worked extremely well. In fact, I came away wondering if remote mediation was better than in-person mediation. Many others have also had remarkably positive experiences of remote mediation. Mediation is a very successful means of settling cases. According to the CEDR mediation audit 2018, 89% of cases settle through mediation; 74% at the mediation itself and 15% shortly thereafter. The fact that remote mediation…
Insights 1 Jun, 2020
Practical tips for remote hearings and electronic bundles – Nicholas Hill reflects on a seven-day trial by Skype in the Lloyds GMP litigation. Nicholas Hill recently acted, led by Andrew Short QC, and instructed by Ivan Walker of Walkers, for the Eighth Defendant in the second substantive trial in the Lloyds Banking Group Pension Trustees Limited GMP litigation. The 2018 Judgment [2018] EWHC 2839 (Ch) confirmed that pension scheme trustees are required to adjust non-GMP benefits to equalise overall scheme benefits. The proceedings earlier this month concern the impact of the equalisation obligation on transfers out. Judgment is awaited. Nick sets out some practical tips and observations about the use and impact of technology adopted in the recent trial. In the…
Insights 26 May, 2020
Adams v Options SIPP UK LLP (formerly Carey Pensions UK LLP); Nicholas Hill comments on the Judgment two years in the making: clarity and relief for SIPP operators and execution only financial services businesses. In March 2018 the Chancery Division heard the high-profile test case on the liability of Carey Pensions UK LLP, a provider and administrator of self-invested pension plans (SIPPs), to the Claimant investor, whose underlying investments were alleged to have been manifestly unsuitable. A little over two years later Judgment has finally been handed down. The SIPP industry (and indeed a wide range of institutions conducting business on an execution-only basis) will welcome the Judgment. Case Note Nicholas Hill has written a short case note considering the Judgment…
Insights 21 May, 2020
Employment Tribunals may well face an increase in interim relief applications arising from concerns from those returning to work after lockdown. Andrew Allen QC provides a practical guide for both employees and employers. There has been considerable speculation about the potential for applications in the employment tribunal for interim relief to continue the employment contract, being brought by employees who have raised concerns about the safety of returning to their workplace after lockdown and who have been dismissed. Andrew Allen QC provides a practical guide to the situations in which an employee can and cannot make such applications and sets out the legal tests and hurdles to be overcome for those making and defending such applications. Introduction Sections 128 to…
Insights 18 May, 2020
