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Commercial Litigation UK
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March 24, 2025
UK Gov't Settles Legal Claim Over Procurement Email Mishap
The Department for Work and Pensions has settled a legal claim with a communications services provider that had alleged the government botched a procurement process, believing it had to disqualify the company for failing to respond to an email.
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March 24, 2025
Spacecraft Propulsion Tech Isn't Patentable, Judge Rules
A London judge has refused to order the grant of a patent over a purported way of propelling spacecraft using magnets, upholding an earlier decision that the tech has no industrial application because it breaches the laws of physics.
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March 24, 2025
Mastercard Seeks To Limit Swipe Fee Damages Bill
Mastercard urged a tribunal on Monday to limit the damages it must pay to intermediaries such as Worldpay over unlawful interchange fees, arguing that the acquirers' proposed damages bill is too broad and covers too long a period of time.
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March 24, 2025
Drax Settles Whistleblower Case Amid Toxic Work Claims
Drax reached a settlement with its former public affairs manager on Monday over allegations that bosses sacked her amid a "toxic" working environment after she blew the whistle on concerns about alleged sustainability failings by the energy company.
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March 21, 2025
Court Sours On Tribunal's Sweets Ruling For Marshmallows
The First-tier Tribunal applied a faulty interpretation of value-added tax law to rule that jumbo-size marshmallows are exempt from VAT, a U.K. Court of Appeal panel said Friday, remanding the £473,000 ($611,000) dispute back to the tribunal.
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March 21, 2025
Uber Denies Black Cab Drivers' £199M Undercutting Claim
Uber has hit back at two separate claims brought by London taxi drivers and the former chief executive of a minicab company accusing the ride-hailing giant of undercutting their profits by unlawfully operating a private hire service, arguing they were simply unable to compete with it.
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March 21, 2025
Sheridans Denies Negligence In $11M PPE Commission Row
London law firm Sheridans has denied claims that it gave negligent advice to a personal protective equipment selling agent facing allegations that it unlawfully made $11 million in secret commissions.
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March 21, 2025
Reading FC Owner Fails To Release Unreturned Loan Security
The owner of Reading Football Club has failed to release assets used to secure a loan for the botched sale of the outfit, after a judge held Friday that this would render a claim bought by a potential buyer "effectively worthless."
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March 21, 2025
UK Litigation Roundup: Here's What You Missed In London
This past week in London has seen a sub-postmaster sue the Post Office and Fujitsu, Russian insurer Ingosstrakh hit the Financial Times with a defamation claim, and Britvic-owned Robinsons Soft Drinks file a passing off claim against Aldi. Here, Law360 looks at these and other new claims in the U.K.
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March 21, 2025
Property Boss' Brother Faces Prison In Fraud Recovery Case
A London court has ruled that the brother of a property tycoon who funneled £13 million ($16 million) out of his family business will face a year in prison if he continues to withhold information about the family's assets to frustrate attempts to recover the money.
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March 21, 2025
Royal Mail Workers' Anti-Strike Bonus Claim Tossed
An employment tribunal has thrown out a claim brought by more than 1,800 Royal Mail workers who allege that the postal service unlawfully tried to discourage them from striking over Christmas by offering bonuses.
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March 27, 2025
CORRECTED: FA Exits Referee's Gender Bias Claim
The Football Association won its bid Thursday to strike out a claim against it by a referee who alleged that the body played a role in her unfair dismissal and victimization based on her gender. Correction: An earlier version of this article misidentified the party that was granted a strike-out. The error has been corrected.
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March 20, 2025
Dutch Bioscience Giant Loses 2 Infant Formula Patents
A London court on Thursday rejected the bulk of Dutch bioscience giant DSM's claim that its rivals infringed its microbial oil patents in the U.K., ruling that two of its patents over the infant formula ingredient are invalid.
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March 20, 2025
Gallagher Hits Back At Former CEO's £1.5M Claim For Losses
Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.'s benefits and consulting arm denies that it owes a former chief executive of a company it acquired £1.55 million ($2 million) on his claim that it failed to manage the business correctly, as legal wrangling over the acquisition continues.
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March 20, 2025
Ex-HKA Partners Sue Over 'Unreasonable' Noncompete
Two former HKA Global partners have sued to block the dispute resolution consultancy from pursuing them for millions of dollars in damages after they jumped to a competitor, arguing the noncompete clauses in their contracts were unenforceable.
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March 27, 2025
Vedder Price Hires A&O Pro To Launch UK Litigation Team
Vedder Price has recruited an experienced litigator from A&O Shearman to head up its new U.K. litigation practice as the firm expands its dispute resolution and arbitration offerings in London and beyond.
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March 20, 2025
Australian Folk Singers Countersue In Unpaid Fees Dispute
Australian musical duo Angus and Julia Stone have hit back against a claim by their former management company seeking unpaid commissions, saying the business concealed the conflict of interest that arose from being bought from Live Nation.
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March 20, 2025
Prudential's £9.3M Fees To Silverfleet Taxable, HMRC Argues
Prudential's payments of £9.3 million ($12 million) to an investment firm are taxable even though the fees were for services the firm carried out when the two companies were part of the same group, the tax authority's counsel told the U.K. Supreme Court on Thursday.
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March 20, 2025
PE Firm Says Ex-Exec Stole Data, Poached Staff And Clients
A mining private equity firm has sued a former vice president for £140,000 ($181,000) in a London court, alleging that the executive stole confidential documents, and tried to take the company's business and poach its staff after he left the company.
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March 20, 2025
Zaha Hadid Can't Renew Bid To Exit IP Licensing Deal
Zaha Hadid's architectural firm cannot revive its bid to escape a deal signed before her death in 2016 that gave the practice a license to use her trademarks, as a judge ruled Thursday that it had no prospect of succeeding.
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March 19, 2025
BT And Paralegal Co. Deny Conspiring In £8.75M Spat
A paralegal firm and British Telecommunications PLC have hit back at a retired real estate lawyer's £8.75 million ($11.4 million) London claim for allegedly conspiring to exclude him from a system he created to find real estate asset risks, saying it is "entirely speculative."
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March 19, 2025
Oatly Heads To UK's Top Court With Battle Over 'Post Milk' TM
The U.K.'s top court will weigh in on whether oat drink maker Oatly AB should be barred from registering the trademark "Post Milk Generation" under retained European Union law that restricts certain uses of the word "milk" to dairy products.
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March 19, 2025
KPMG Must Face Whistleblower's Discrimination Claim
KPMG LLP must face a former Highways England employee's claim alleging the Big Four audit firm forced her out of her job, as an appellate judge has ruled that KPMG could still be responsible for discrimination even though it didn't employ her.
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March 19, 2025
Group Status Prohibits VAT, Prudential Tells UK Top Court
Prudential disputed a value-added tax claim on £9.3 million ($12.1 million) in performance fees at the U.K. Supreme Court on Wednesday on the grounds that the business providing the services was a part of the same group as Prudential for tax purposes.Â
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March 19, 2025
Ex-Postmaster Sues Post Office, Fujitsu Over Horizon Scandal
A former sub-postmaster has become the first person to bring legal action against The Post Office and Fujitsu for withholding evidence about faulty software in the Horizon IT system, his lawyers at Simons Muirhead Burton LLP said Wednesday.
Expert Analysis
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Oil And Gas Case Highlights Judicial Review Climate Trends
Although the High Court recently dismissed a judicial review challenge concerning the U.K. oil and gas industry licensing regime, the case highlights how environmental campaign groups are increasingly taking formal steps through court proceedings to challenge the fossil fuel industry and influence government policy, say lawyers at CMS.
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Collapse-Risk Buildings Present Liability Challenges
Recently, buildings, such as Harrow Crown Court, have been closed due to risk of collapse from use of reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete in their construction, but identifying who will pay for the associated damages may be challenging due to expired limitation periods, say Theresa Mohammed, Jonathan Clarke and Villem Diederichs at Watson Farley.
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Age Bias Cases Illustrate Key Employer Issues On Retirement
Recent Employment Tribunal cases demonstrate that age discrimination claims are increasingly on employees' radars, particularly regarding retirement, so employers should be proactive and review their current practices for managing older employees, say Jane Mann and Lucy Sellen at Fox Williams.
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Why Indonesia Feels Frustrated By Airbus Dispute Outcome
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.
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UAE Bank Case Offers Lessons On Enforcing Foreign Rulings
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.
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9 Hallmarks Of The New German Class Action Regime
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.
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Protecting The Arbitral Process In Russia-Related Disputes
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.
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Examining US And Europe Patent Disclosure For AI Inventions
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.
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Incontinence Drug Ruling Offers Key Patent Drafting Lessons
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.
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RSA Insurance Ruling Clarifies Definition Of 'Insured Loss'
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.
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Putin Ruling May Have Unintended Sanctions Consequences
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.
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EPO Decision Significantly Relaxes Patent Priority Approach
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.
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Landmark EU Climate Case May Shape Future Disputes
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.
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Bias Claim Highlights Need For Menopause Support Policies
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.
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UK Case Offers Lessons On Hiring Accommodations
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.