Commercial Litigation UK

  • May 24, 2024

    Ex-Soccer Player Loses Early Libel Battle With TV Presenter

    Former professional soccer player Joey Barton lost an early legal battle against U.K. television presenter Jeremy Vine on Friday over online posts labeling Vine a "bike nonce" after a London judge ruled that they were accusations of pedophilia.

  • May 24, 2024

    UK's 2nd CPO Settlement Points To More Scrutiny On Payouts

    Britain's competition tribunal scrutinized how the U.K.'s second-ever class action settlement will be handed out to rail passengers before approving the deal, shedding light on what information it will expect to see before signing off on future settlements.

  • May 24, 2024

    UK Litigation Roundup: Here's What You Missed In London

    This past week in London has seen an IT engineer seek permission to search a landfill hiding a hard drive supposedly storing millions of pounds in bitcoin, Glencore take on legal action by American Century Investments, gold payment app Glint bring a breach of duty claim against FRP Advisory, and an ongoing dispute between a solicitor and the Solicitors Regulation Authority. Here, Law360 looks at these and other new claims in the U.K.

  • May 24, 2024

    Law Firm Partner Says Sorry For Expert Witness Interference

    A Penningtons Manches Cooper LLP partner has apologized to a London court for overstepping in his interference with an expert witness' statement amid his client's feud with AXA XL.

  • May 24, 2024

    Generali Italia Denies Owing £1M To Exec With Eye Disease

    Italy's largest insurance company has denied that it owes more than £1 million ($1.2 million) in incapacity benefits and damages to a Quest Software sales director suffering from a degenerative eye disease after rejecting his claim.

  • May 24, 2024

    Bayer Loses Bid To Overturn Xarelto Patent Loss

    Pharma giant Bayer AG lost its fight against a slew of generic-drug makers to keep its patent over its blockbuster drug Xarelto, when an appeals court ruled Friday that the drug involved no inventive step and should not be given protection.

  • May 24, 2024

    Ex-Post Office Boss Blames Scandal On Bad Legal Advice

    Paula Vennells blamed the advice of her senior lawyers for not becoming aware of the wrongful prosecutions by the Post Office of innocent people based on faulty IT data, as she gave evidence to the inquiry into the scandal Friday.

  • May 24, 2024

    Tesla Hits Back At InterDigital's Bid To Ax 5G FRAND Case

    Tesla told a London court Friday that it is entitled to challenge the terms of licenses for 5G vehicle technology owned and licensed by InterDigital and Avanci LLC, hitting back at the two companies' bid to have its case thrown out.

  • May 24, 2024

    Travelers Insurance Sued Over Fire-Damaged Warehouse

    A U.K.-based building operator is suing its insurer for breach of contract for refusing to pay out on its multimillion-pound policy after fires destroyed its Scottish warehouse because the company allegedly fell short of security requirements and other policy provisions.

  • May 24, 2024

    Ex-Aviva Staffer's Tribunal Outbursts Not A Bar To Fair Trial

    Aviva must face a former employee's discrimination claim even though her actions during hearings — including accusations of institutional racism in employment cases — is likely to prevent the trial being fair, a tribunal has ruled.

  • May 24, 2024

    PE Firm, Pharma Cos. Overturn £31M Drug Price-Fixing Fines

    Private equity group Cinven and three pharmaceutical companies have successfully overturned a decision by the U.K. antitrust regulator to fine them £31 million ($39 million) for allegedly fixing the price of drugs sold to the National Health Service.

  • May 23, 2024

    Investors Lose $600M Mass Claim Over Cyprus Bank Failures

    The Republic of Cyprus said Thursday that an international arbitral tribunal has dismissed an unprecedented $600 million mass claim by Greek depositors and bondholders affected by the restructuring of Laiki Bank and Bank of Cyprus.

  • May 23, 2024

    NY Top Court Revives FanDuel Investors Suit

    New York's top appeals court on Thursday revived a suit brought by FanDuel investors who claim they were deprived of profits from a merger, disagreeing with a lower court's interpretation of Scottish law.

  • May 23, 2024

    Bipolar Flight Attendant Wins Retrial Of 'Unfit To Fly' Verdict

    A flight attendant with bipolar disorder revived her claims of disability discrimination against CAE Crewing Services after an appellate judge in London concluded that the tribunal hearing the claims misinterpreted a vicarious liability law.

  • May 23, 2024

    Ex-Post Office Boss Told Reviewing Cases Would Be Bad PR

    Former Post Office boss Paula Vennells denied that avoiding becoming "front page news" influenced her decision to limit a review of past convictions based on faulty IT data in her evidence to the inquiry into the Post Office scandal on Thursday.

  • May 23, 2024

    Marketer Denies Owing Investors For Flawed Property Scheme

    An investment marketer has denied owing care home investors £2.3 million ($2.9 million) after they sank money into a flawed property scheme, claiming it never said the investments were safe.

  • May 23, 2024

    InterDigital Fights To Duck Tesla FRAND Case

    InterDigital and tech licensor Avanci LLC fought in a hearing Thursday to throw out Tesla's claim that they have failed to offer fair licensing terms for 5G patents for use in its cars, arguing that the automaker doesn't have valid claims against them.

  • May 23, 2024

    Royal Mail Delivery Driver Loses Case Over 'Jokey' Threat

    Royal Mail cannot be faulted for firing a delivery driver who threatened to blow up a colleague's car in a WhatsApp message if the colleague didn't join the picket line, an employment tribunal has ruled.

  • May 23, 2024

    Lenovo Loses Bid For 'Sword Of Damocles' Injunction

    A London judge has dismissed Lenovo's bid to hit Ericsson with an interim injunction to stop it infringing an essential patent for 5G technology, claiming on Thursday that the injunction was merely a "Sword of Damocles" to discourage the Swedish company from enforcing international injunctions.

  • May 23, 2024

    Trader Denies Using 'Magic Money Tree' At £1.4B Fraud Trial

    Sanjay Shah, a former hedge fund owner who is accused of defrauding Denmark's tax authority out of £1.4 billion ($1.8 billion), denied using a "magic money tree" in his trading at a London court Thursday.

  • May 23, 2024

    Struck-Off Lawyer Loses Bid To Challenge Contempt Sentence

    A struck-off solicitor lost her attempt on Thursday to get a second shot at reviving her appeal against a prison sentence for contempt of court as the appeals court found that she had failed to argue that she had been medically unfit to argue at her first appeal.

  • May 23, 2024

    Bank Sues Adviser For £9M In Property Overvaluation Dispute

    A U.K. bank has alleged a retail adviser owes it £9.2 million ($11.7 million) for overvaluing a property development and causing it to lend millions of pounds more than it should have.

  • May 22, 2024

    Int'l Tribunal Says Countries Must Do More To Protect Oceans

    In a historic unanimous ruling, an international tribunal has concluded that greenhouse gas emissions are polluting the oceans and that nations have an obligation under international law to "take all necessary measures" to prevent, reduce and control these emissions.

  • May 22, 2024

    Staffer's Pre-Prepared Resignation Letter Not Discriminatory

    A designer has lost her discrimination claim against an investment company after failing to prove that her bosses mistreated her — including by asking her to sign a pre-prepared resignation letter — because she is a Chinese woman.

  • May 22, 2024

    Property Transfer For Tax Break Not Dishonest, UK Court Says

    Two liquidated London real estate companies failed to convince the United Kingdom Court of Appeal that their former director behaved dishonestly by transferring their holdings to Jersey trusts for less than market value to obtain a tax advantage, according to a judgment released Wednesday.

Expert Analysis

  • Why Indonesia Feels Frustrated By Airbus Dispute Outcome

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    Although the U.K. Serious Fraud Office’s Airbus bribery investigation achieved a record payout for regulators, Indonesia’s threat to sue for lack of credit for its contribution serves as a reminder of the need to take care when settlements are distributed among investigating partners, says Niall Hearty at Rahman Ravelli.

  • UAE Bank Case Offers Lessons On Enforcing Foreign Rulings

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    The High Court recently clarified in Invest Bank v. El-Husseini that foreign judgment debts may be enforceable in England, despite being unenforceable in their jurisdiction of origin, which should remind practitioners that foreign judgments will be recognized in England if they are final and conclusive in their court of origin, say lawyers at Macfarlanes.

  • 9 Hallmarks Of The New German Class Action Regime

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    By recently adopting a new class action regime, Germany is taking an incremental step toward more collective redress, which may fundamentally change its litigation landscape amid increased European regulatory activity, a growing focus on private enforcement of regulations, and a consumer-friendly German judiciary, say lawyers at Gibson Dunn.

  • Protecting The Arbitral Process In Russia-Related Disputes

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    Four recent High Court and Court of Appeal rulings concerning anti-suit injunction claims illustrate that companies exposed to litigation risk in Russia may need to carefully consider how to best protect their interests and the arbitral process with regard to a Russian counterparty, say lawyers at Linklaters.

  • Examining US And Europe Patent Disclosure For AI Inventions

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    As applicants before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and the European Patent Office increasingly seek patent protection for inventions relating to artificial intelligence, the applications may require more implementation details than traditional computer-implemented inventions, including disclosure of data and methods used to train the AI systems, say attorneys at Finnegan.

  • Incontinence Drug Ruling Offers Key Patent Drafting Lessons

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    In a long-awaited decision in Astellas v. Teva and Sandoz, an English court found that the patent for a drug used to treat overactive bladder syndrome had not been infringed, highlighting the interaction between patent drafting and litigation strategy, and why claim infringement is as important a consideration as validity, says George McCubbin at Herbert Smith.

  • RSA Insurance Ruling Clarifies Definition Of 'Insured Loss'

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    A London appeals court's recent ruling in Royal & Sun Alliance Insurance v. Tughans, that the insurer must provide coverage for a liability that included the law firm's fees, shows that a claim for the recovery of fees paid to a firm can constitute an insured loss, say James Roberts and Sophia Hanif at Clyde & Co.

  • Putin Ruling May Have Unintended Sanctions Consequences

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    By widening the scope of control, the Court of Appeal's recent judgment in Mints v. PJSC opens the possibility that everything in Russia could be deemed to be controlled by President Vladimir Putin, which would significantly expand the U.K.'s sanctions regime in unintended ways, say attorneys at Greenberg Traurig.

  • EPO Decision Significantly Relaxes Patent Priority Approach

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    In a welcome development for patent applicants, a recent European Patent Office decision redefines the way that entitlement to priority is assessed, significantly relaxing the previous approach and making challenges to the right to priority in post-grant opposition proceedings far more difficult, say lawyers at Finnegan.

  • Landmark EU Climate Case May Shape Future Disputes

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    The European Court of Human Rights' recent hearing in its first-ever climate change case Agostinho v. Portugal, concerning human rights violation claims due to countries' failure to curb emissions, may develop the law on admissibility and guide future climate disputes before domestic courts, say Stefanie Spancken-Monz and Leane Meyer at Freshfields.

  • Bias Claim Highlights Need For Menopause Support Policies

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    The recent U.K. Employment Tribunal case Rooney v. Leicester City Council, concerning a menopause discrimination claim, illustrates the importance of support policies that should feed into an organization's wider diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging strategies, say Ellie Gelder, Kelly Thomson and Victoria Othen at RPC.

  • UK Case Offers Lessons On Hiring Accommodations

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    The U.K. Employment Appeal Tribunal recently ruled in Aecom v. Mallon that an employer had failed to make reasonable adjustments to an online application for an applicant with a disability, highlighting that this obligation starts from the earliest point of the recruitment process, say Nishma Chudasama and Emily Morrison at SA Law.

  • Shifting From Technical To Clear Insurance Contract Wordings

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    Recent developments on insurance policies, including the Financial Conduct Authority's new consumer duty, represent a major shift for insurers and highlight the importance of drafting policies that actively improve understanding, rather than shift the onus onto the end user, say Tamsin Hyland and Jonathan Charwat at RPC.

  • A Case For The Green Investment Regime Under The ECT

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    The EU and U.K.'s potential plans to exit the Energy Charter Treaty, which has been criticized as protecting fossil fuel investments to the detriment of energy transition, ignore the significant strides taken to modernize the treaty and its ability to promote investment in cleaner energy forms, say Amy Frey and Simon Maynard at King & Spalding.

  • How Employers Can Support Neurodiversity In The Workplace

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    A recent run of cases emphasize employers' duties to make reasonable adjustments for neurodiverse employees under the Equalities Act, illustrating the importance of investing in staff education and listening to neurodivergent workers to improve recruitment, retention and productivity in the workplace, say Anna Henderson and Tim Leaver at Herbert Smith.

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