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High Court considers cryptocurrency status in English law and key aspects of cryptocurrency fraud claims
15 October 2024For the first time following a full trial, the English High Court in D’Aloia v Persons Unknown, Bitkub and others [2024] EWHC 2342 (Ch) has confirmed that cryptocurrency, specifically USD Tether (USDT), can be traced and can constitute property under English law. The court also made observations as to key legal and evidential links needed in the context of cryptocurrency fraud.
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The Lewis Silkin Dispute Resolution team, together with Maitland Chambers, secure the continuation of a £90m freezing order and defeat interim challenges
15 August 2024In reaching this important decision and finding for our client, Cancrie, the court considered some key areas of law.
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Unjust enrichment claim against receiving payment service provider relating to an ‘APP’ fraud can continue to trial
17 July 2024The High Court has rejected an application by the defendant, a receiving Payment Service Provider (PSP), for reverse summary judgment or strike out of an unjust enrichment claim made by a victim of an authorised push payment (APP) fraud.
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Privy Council directs English Courts to adopt new test in deciding whether to stay a creditor’s winding up petition
09 July 2024The Privy Council has handed down its judgment in Sian Participation Corp v Halimeda International, ruling that where the parties are subject to an arbitration agreement, the appropriate test for determining whether a creditor’s winding up petition should be stayed in favour of arbitration is whether the debt is “genuinely disputed debts on substantial grounds”.
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Former BHS directors in breach of duties and personally liable despite taking professional advice on insolvency. Where does this leave directors of distressed companies?
02 July 2024The High Court has handed down a 533-page judgment in proceedings brought by the liquidators of BHS against its former directors for wrongful trading and misfeasance trading, finding them personally liable for at least £18 million. The case is of great significance to directors of distressed companies. We analyse some key points arising.
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Contract Interpretation Guide
29 May 2024The meaning of words used in contracts is of key importance. The choice of certain words or phrases can significantly impact upon the obligations of one party to another and using them in contracts without thought to their meaning and implications can result in uncertainty, unintended consequences, a mismatch of expectations and, ultimately, legal disputes.
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Unsigned contracts prior to performance
29 May 2024Though not best practice, it is not uncommon for parties to begin to perform duties under a contract before it is signed. When this situation arises, the question is what terms, if any, are the parties bound by?
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Contractual good faith
29 May 2024The concept of good faith is something of a problem child in contract law. English law has no general doctrine of good faith in contracts. The law has traditionally prized party autonomy in contract formation. That being the case, contracting parties are free to agree to include duties and obligations of good faith in their agreements. This is frequently done, and so despite the absence of a good faith doctrine, the English courts have nevertheless grappled with the question of what is meant by a duty of good faith when interpreting contracts containing such provisions.
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Interpretation of exemption clauses
29 May 2024Parties often include provisions in their contracts that seek to exclude (in its entirety) or limit (to a particular level) a contracting party’s liability in respect of certain types of liability or loss. These clauses can serve the useful purpose of allocating risk between the parties and thereby giving the parties certainty as to what their potential exposure is under the contract.
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What type of breach?
29 May 2024Contractual breaches can come in many forms. Some are serious, giving the wronged party the right to terminate the contract. Others will be more minor, and might be easily remediable. It can be useful to think of contractual breaches as a sliding scale, with repudiatory breaches at one end, and minor, remediable breaches at the other.
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When is consent unreasonably withheld?
29 May 2024The phrase ‘consent not to be unreasonably withheld’ is often seen in commercial contracts. However when is withholding consent actually unreasonable and how can this be determined?
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Contract termination checklist May 2024
15 May 2024We have produced a contract termination checklist exploring issues to consider when terminating contracts, common pitfalls and how to avoid getting it wrong.
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Hong Kong Asset Tracing: Letter of No Consent ≠ Freezing Order 香港资产追踪: 不同意书 ≠ 冻结令
17 April 2024A recent Court of Final Appeal decision upholds the constitutionality of the letters of no consent regime as operated by the Hong Kong Police Force. 终审法院最近的一项判决维持了香港警方实施不同意书制度的合宪性。
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HK SFC Enforcement Action - CFOs of listed companies beware 香港证监执法行动 - 上市公司首席财务官要小心
09 April 2024A recent High Court decision confirmed that directors of listed companies may be disqualified and / or ordered to personally compensate the company for the misappropriation of company funds by other officers, even in the absence of any financial gain by the director.
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Auditors may owe duty to buyer of shares despite disclaimer
21 March 2024The High Court found that there would be a real prospect at trial of the buyers of shares of a company succeeding with a claim that auditors would be liable to them for failures when preparing the company’s accounts, despite a contractual disclaimer.
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Unfair prejudice petitions - statutory limitation periods do apply
21 March 2024The Court of Appeal ("COA") has recently confirmed that statutory limitation periods under the Limitation Act 1980 ("LA 1980") do in fact apply to unfair prejudice petitions under the Companies Act 2006 ("CA 2006"), despite it having been understood for over 40 years that they did not.
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Varying a worldwide freezing order: timely collaboration and transparency is key – Lewis Silkin advises successful respondent
07 March 2024An attempt to vary a £88m worldwide freezing order to permit the sale of a significant London property was successfully resisted recently by the Claimant, represented by Lewis Silkin. We explore the issues arising in the recent High Court judgment, which confirmed the importance of timely collaboration and transparency when considering the variation of a freezing order.
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Guidance on key concepts of privilege from Court of Appeal
15 February 2024The Court of Appeal ("COA") has handed down a judgment dealing with a number of important points regarding the scope of legal professional privilege and the iniquity exception.
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Court backs decisions regarding cancellation of nickel trades
06 February 2024Towards the end of 2023, the Administrative Court handed down a judgment in R (on the application of Elliott Associates LP and others) v The London Metal Exchange and LME Clear Limited [2023] EWHC 2969 (Admin), rejecting a challenge to decisions made regarding the cancellation of nickel trades in a “disorderly market” in March 2022 and associated claims for damages. We consider key aspects of the decision and implications for the market.