Commercial Litigation UK

  • March 18, 2024

    Ex-Autonomy CEO's Fraud Trial Over $11.7B HP Deal Kicks Off

    Autonomy's former CEO Michael Lynch duped HP into buying his company at the inflated price of $11.7 billion, a federal prosecutor said Monday during opening statements in the British entrepreneur's criminal trial, while Lynch's lawyer countered his client had "all the money in the world" and no motive to commit fraud.

  • March 18, 2024

    Activist Was Harassment Whistleblower, Tribunal Rules

    An employee at a bottling company counts as a whistleblower because he told his employer he had witnessed a senior manager inappropriately massage a junior employee, an employment tribunal has ruled.

  • March 18, 2024

    World Champ Race Walker's Appeal Of Doping Ban Denied

    The ban against an Italian champion race walker will remain in place after an international arbitration tribunal denied the Olympic gold medalist's appeal of an eight-year punishment over alleged doping violations, according to a Friday statement.

  • March 18, 2024

    Axed HMRC Staffer Wins £16K Disability Discrimination Case

    HM Revenue and Customs must pay a disabled former employee £15,900 ($20,200) after it unfairly sacked him for gross misconduct and wrote off his claim that his sleep apnea was to blame, a Scottish tribunal has ruled.

  • March 18, 2024

    Barrister Before Tribunal For Allegedly Dodging Practice Ban

    An English legal regulator told a tribunal on Monday that a suspended barrister had continued to practice under the pretense of being a "solicitor's agent" in order to sidestep a ban for sending hostile emails and making false statements to a judge.

  • March 18, 2024

    AI Voice Platform Faces UK Litigation Over 'Deepfake' Songs

    The U.K.'s trade association for recorded music has threatened legal proceedings against a deepfake artificial intelligence platform, alleging that the former Voicify's collection of AI voices infringes artists' rights.

  • March 18, 2024

    UPC Shows No Sign Of Dimming UK's IP Role — Yet

    Lawyers and participants seem happy with the Unified Patent Court so far, but it has yet to move the needle on the popularity of the English courts for cross-border IP disputes — particularly after the U.K. Supreme Court set a crucial precedent.

  • March 18, 2024

    Sterlite Says Rival's Fiber-Optic Patent Is 'Mere' Co-Location

    Sterlite Technologies has hit back at Fujikura's claim that it infringed a U.K. patent for a fiber-optic cable, arguing that protection should have never been granted because it was a "mere" co-location of known features.

  • March 18, 2024

    Ex-LC&F Chief's Legal Team Seeks Payment Upfront For Trial

    The £237 million ($300 million) London Capital & Finance investment trial was adjourned on Monday as the company chief's former legal team refused to come back unless they were paid upfront.

  • March 18, 2024

    Special Education Needs Biz Sues DfE Over Procurement

    An educational training company has sued the U.K. Department for Education over its contract bidding process for a qualification for teaching children with special needs, according to a recently public claim.

  • March 18, 2024

    Direct Line Unit Denies Liability For Plastic In Branston Pickle

    A subsidiary of Direct Line Group PLC has denied owing a processed vegetable product supplier £487,000 ($617,000) for losses caused by plastic found in ingredients set to be used for Branston Pickle chutney, because the insurer has already paid out under its policy.

  • March 18, 2024

    PA Unfairly Pushed To Quit Over Underground COVID Fears

    A trader unfairly forced his personal assistant to quit after demanding that she continue to work at his house despite her concerns about catching COVID-19 on the London Underground, an appeals tribunal has ruled.

  • March 18, 2024

    Lawyers Can Recover Costs From Injury Rehab Meetings

    Lawyers acting for a personal injury victim can recover the costs of attending rehabilitation meetings, the Court of Appeal has ruled, but justices warned that solicitors should not expect to be paid for every routine appointment.

  • March 15, 2024

    Quantum Spinoff Breached Fiduciary Duty In TM Dispute

    Quantum Actuarial LLP has lost an appeal to force its predecessor, Quantum Advisory Ltd., to let it use the "Quantum" name as it branched off the business, after a London court found that the actuarial business was wrongly acting out of self-interest.

  • March 15, 2024

    Ex-Autonomy CEO To Face Jury As HP Fraud Trial Boots Up

    Former Autonomy CEO Michael Lynch's 2011 sale of the tech company he founded to HP for about $11.7 billion earned him around $804 million and acclaim in tech circles, but the British executive now faces up to 20 years in prison on federal fraud charges that he inflated revenue figures in a monthslong criminal trial slated to kick off Monday in San Francisco.

  • March 15, 2024

    Emirati Banks Deny Misleading Court To Get $31M Order

    Emirates NBD Bank PJSC has denied misleading the Dubai courts to secure court orders for 117 million AED ($31.8 million) to enforce loans it claims executives of a Kuwaiti opticians company owe.

  • March 15, 2024

    Investment Funds Fight For Disclosure In $1.2B Mining Row

    Two Brazilian investment funds lost their bid Friday to force a mining company to hand over board documents ahead of a trial over a $1.2 billion deal that went south, with the judge agreeing with the mining firm that the documents are privileged.

  • March 15, 2024

    Rentokil Should Have Tested Disabled Staffer In New Job

    Rentokil failed to make reasonable adjustments for its employee with multiple sclerosis when it declined to offer him a trial period in a less physical role before cutting him loose, a London appeals tribunal has ruled.

  • March 15, 2024

    Academic Wins Payout After Being Bullied Into Resigning

    An academic who resigned after being subjected to "bullying and intimidating behavior" by her line manager has been awarded more than £14,000 by a tribunal.

  • March 15, 2024

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

    The past week in London has seen Howard Kennedy face legal action by a London hotel chain, former racing boss Bernie Ecclestone and Formula One hit with a breach of contract claim by a Brazilian racecar driver, and a libel row between broadcaster Jeremy Vine and ex-footballer Joey Barton. Here, Law360 looks at these and other new claims in the U.K.

  • March 15, 2024

    Powell Gilbert Pros Warn Of Big Changes In IP Litigation

    The life sciences sector should brace itself for change as transformative technology creates new disputes, the sector adjusts to the Unified Patent Court and EU proposals to overhaul standard essential patent licensing could cause upheaval, three partners tell Law360.

  • March 15, 2024

    Ireland Hit With €4.5M Fine Over EU Telecom Rule Delays

    The European Union's highest court has fined Ireland €4.5 million ($4.9 million) over "persistent" delays bringing in telecommunications regulations designed to overhaul the industry and improve connection speeds and services across the bloc.

  • March 14, 2024

    Judge Breyer Seeks To Boost Security Outside SF Courthouse

    U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer said at a Thursday hearing that he'll meet with the U.S. Marshals Service to press for increased security around the San Francisco courthouse to ensure court staff and jurors' safety, the same day the city was sued over the neighborhood's open-air drug markets.

  • March 14, 2024

    UK Top Court Wrongly Enforced $356M Award Against Romania

    Britain violated European Union law when the U.K. Supreme Court ruled in 2020 that two Swedish food investors could resume their efforts to enforce a $356 million arbitral award against Romania, despite findings within the EU that the award is illegal, the bloc's highest court found on Thursday.

  • March 14, 2024

    Army Camp Beats Worker's Claim Over Bullying Commandant

    An employment tribunal in Liverpool has tossed a claim by a former U.K. armed forces training camp employee that he was forced to quit because the camp botched a probe into repeated bullying by the camp commandant.

Expert Analysis

  • Patent Plausibility Uncertainty Persists, EPO Petition Shows

    Author Photo

    While a recent petition for review at the European Patent Office — maintaining that the Board of Appeal misapplied the Enlarged Board of Appeal's order on whether a patent is "plausible" — highlights the continued uncertainty surrounding the plausibility concept, the outcome could provide useful guidance on the interpretation of orders, say lawyers at Finnegan.

  • In Int'l Arbitration Agreements, Be Clear About Governing Law

    Author Photo

    A trilogy of recent cases in the English High Court and Court of Appeal highlight the importance of parties agreeing to explicit choice of law language at the outset of an arbitration agreement in order to avoid costly legal skirmishes down the road, say lawyers at Faegre Drinker.

  • Risks The Judiciary Needs To Be Aware Of When Using AI

    Author Photo

    Recently published judiciary service guidance aims to temper reliance on AI by court staff in their work, and with ever-increasing and evolving technology, such tools should be used for supplementary assistance rather than as a replacement for already existing judicial research tools, says Philip Sewell at Shepherd & Wedderburn.

  • Post Office Scandal Stresses Key Directors Duties Lessons

    Author Photo

    The Post Office scandal, involving hundreds of wrongful convictions of subpostmasters based on an IT failure, offers lessons for company directors on the magnitude of the impact that a failure to fulfill their duties can have on employees and the company, says Simon Goldberg at Simons Muirhead.

  • Employer Tips For Handling Data Subject Access Requests

    Author Photo

    As employers face numerous employee data-subject access requests — and the attendant risks of complaints to the Information Commissioner's Office — issues such as managing deadlines and sifting through data make compliance more difficult, highlighting the importance of efficient internal processes and clear communication when responding to a request, say Gwynneth Tan and Amy Leech at Shoosmiths.

  • Top Court Hire Car Ruling Affects 3rd-Party Negligence Cases

    Author Photo

    The U.K. Supreme Court's recent decision in Armstead v. Royal & Sun Alliance, finding that an insurer was responsible for lost car rental income after an accident, has significant implications for arguing economic loss and determining burden of proof in third-party negligence cases that trigger contractual liabilities, say lawyers at Macfarlanes.

  • Bribery Class Action Ruling May Revive Bifurcated Processes

    Author Photo

    The Court of Appeal's recent decision allowing the representative bribery action in Commission Recovery v. Marks & Clerk offers renewed hope for claimants to advance class claims using a bifurcated process amid its general absence as of late, say Jon Gale and Justin Browne at Ashurst.

  • Ocado Appeal Outcome Will Gauge UPC Transparency

    Author Photo

    As the sole Unified Patent Court case concerning third-party requests for court records, the forthcoming appeal decision in Ocado v. Autostore will hopefully set out a clear and consistent way to handle reasoned requests, as access to nonconfidential documents will surely lead to more efficient conduct of proceedings, says Tom Brazier at EIP.

  • The Good, The Bad And The New Of The UK Sanctions Regime

    Author Photo

    Almost six years after the Sanctions and Money Laundering Act was introduced, the U.K. government has published a strategy paper that outlines its focus points and unveils potential changes to the regime, such as a new humanitarian exception for financial sanctions, highlighting the rapid transformation of the U.K. sanctions landscape, says Josef Rybacki at WilmerHale.

  • Unpacking The Building Safety Act's Industry Overhaul

    Author Photo

    Recent updates to the Building Safety Act introduce a new principal designer role and longer limitation periods for defects claims, ushering in new compliance challenges for construction industry stakeholders to navigate, as well as a need to affirm that their insurance arrangements provide adequate protection, say Zoe Eastell and Zack Gould-Wilson at RPC.

  • Prompt Engineering Skills Are Changing The Legal Profession

    Author Photo

    With a focus on higher-value work as repetitive tasks are delegated to artificial intelligence, legal roles are set to become more inspiring, and lawyers need not fear the rising demand for prompt engineers that is altering the technology-enabled legal environment, say Eric Crawley, Shah Karim and Paul O’Hagan at Epiq Legal.

  • Opinion

    UK Whistleblowers Flock To The US For Good Reason

    Author Photo

    The U.K. Serious Fraud Office director recently brought renewed attention to the differences between the U.K. and U.S. whistleblower regimes — differences that may make reporting to U.S. agencies a better and safer option for U.K. whistleblowers, and show why U.K. whistleblower laws need to be improved, say Benjamin Calitri and Kate Reeves at Kohn Kohn.

  • 4 Legal Privilege Lessons From Dechert Disclosure Ruling

    Author Photo

    The Court of Appeal's recent decision in Al Sadeq v. Dechert LLP, finding that evidence may have been incorrectly withheld, provides welcome clarification of the scope of legal professional privilege, including the application of the iniquity exception, says Tim Knight at Travers Smith.

  • BT Case May Shape UK Class Action Landscape

    Author Photo

    The first opt-out collective action trial commenced in Le Patourel v. BT in the U.K. Competition Appeal Tribunal last month, regarding BT's abuse of dominance by overcharging millions of customers, will likely provide clarification on damages and funder returns in collective actions, which could significantly affect the class action regime, say lawyers at RPC.

  • Key Points From EC Economic Security Screening Initiatives

    Author Photo

    Lawyers at Herbert Smith analyze the European Commission's five recently announced initiatives aimed at de-risking the EU's trade and investment links with third countries, including the implementation of mandatory screening mechanisms and extending coverage to investments made by EU companies that are controlled subsidiaries of non-EU investors.

Want to publish in Law360?


Submit an idea

Have a news tip?


Contact us here
Hello! I'm Law360's automated support bot.

How can I help you today?

For example, you can type:
  • I forgot my password
  • I took a free trial but didn't get a verification email
  • How do I sign up for a newsletter?
Ask a question!