Featured documents
Lucasfilm did not benefit in any way at Tyburn Film Productions Ltd's expense, counsel said to the appeals court there on 3 December 2025, in part because it already possessed rights over Cushing's likeness and an agreement and consent from the Cushing estate to 'resurrect' him as Grand Moff Tarkin. Tyburn contends it earlier made an agreement with the late actor then, at the time, granting the company a veto over any use of his image prior to his 1994 death. That contract concerns a TV series titled 'Heritage of Horror', which never aired. Tyburn further asserts the deal permits it to effectively 'resurrect' Cushing using stand-ins and CGI to ultimately finish the programme then if the actor were to die whilst filming remained in progress...
Irish telecom operator Eircom’s damages lawsuit against BT Group over a public-sector contract must be carefully managed to trial to deal with confidentiality issues and other matters, a UK judge told the parties today. At the High Court in London today, a judge said Eircom’s damages action against BT over a public-sector contract needs tight case management through to trial to address confidentiality and related concerns. Eircom brought the claim after Ofcom in 2020 penalised BT for its behaviour during a tender. Speaking to both sides, Judge Adam Johnson urged them to resolve any confidentiality flashpoints themselves and signalled he had no wish to step in unless it became unavoidable. He also expressed confidence that parties would do everything possible to keep confidential designations to a minimum, noting this was necessary to maintain control over the conduct of the trial. He framed this as the
The following document is attached: Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2026/274 dated 5 February 2026, revising Implementing Regulation (EU) 2025/1981, establishing a final anti-dumping levy on imports of ceramic tableware and kitchenware produced in...
Justice Richard Arnold granted AstraZeneca leave to appeal and permitted lorries carrying about 175,000 packs of Glenmark’s generics to move on to wholesalers, provided they did not reach pharmacy shelves while the case continued at any point during those interim proceedings. In this way, Glenmark could keep its first-to-market advantage, while causing only minimal detriment to AstraZeneca should the Court of Appeal later be persuaded to issue an injunction against supply. The judge said this approach maintained the status quo with the least possible prejudice to Glenmark’s position overall. The hearing was arranged at short notice, just days after the High Court refused AstraZeneca an injunction to block the diabetes generic from sale while the court considered whether the patents supporting the branded medicine were valid in law. Glenmark, Generics (UK) Ltd and Teva Pharmaceuticals have each begun proceedings in the UK to set...
Most recent News
Note: the CPRC no longer distributes the underlying papers with the minutes, and consequently no documents explaining the matters discussed are supplied alongside this News Analysis. A copy of the minutes can be found here: Minutes of the Civil Procedure Rule Committee. Welcome, apologies and introductory remarks (item 1) The minutes of the 9 May 2025 meeting were approved (for more detail, see News Analysis: Minutes of the CPR Committee meeting—9 May 2025). From the action log, the following items were recorded: Forms and standard orders—various strands of work remain in progress, and a new working group will be created. The Chair and Secretariat will finalise the finer details outside the committee. Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024—drafting was agreed under item 3 at the Minutes of the CPR Committee meeting—9 May 2025, and the finalised draft is now...
The EU General Court rejected Spin Master Toys UK Ltd’s bid to reinstate its protections after Greek competitor Verdes Innovations SA successfully challenged its trade mark. The court explained that the Rubik’s Cube’s colours allow users to distinguish each face of the cube from the others, a necessary condition for achieving the technical result of completing the puzzle. In consequence, the sign falls foul of the EU’s trade mark regime, which, in essence, excludes signs that consist exclusively of the shape of goods where that form is required to obtain a technical result, the General Court said. In the end, the court upheld the EU Intellectual Property Office’s ruling, concluding that the essential characteristic—namely that every face (and each small square) of the cube can be identified by means of six different, contrasting colours—was functional, that is to......
Renishaw Plc v Ross Trustees Services Ltd and another [2025] EWHC 1445 ( Ch) What are the practical implications of this case? This judgment exemplifies a clause whose wording appears unambiguous, yet, taken in context, plainly reveals a drafting error to any informed reader. A well-established rule of construction permits the court to rectify such mistakes by interpreting the document so it delivers the intended effect, where the correct solution is clear. The Supreme Court confirmed the availability of that approach for pension scheme documents in Barnardo’s v Buckinghamshire [2018] UKSC 55, [2019] I. C. R. 495. Even so, Coulson L. J. remarked in Britvic plc v Britvic Pensions Ltd [2021] EWCA Civ 867, [2021] I. C. R. 1648 that the case law suggests the principle should be confined to situations ‘where something has obviously gone wrong in a...
The Court of Appeal concluded there was compelling evidence that Judith Dewsall ( Mrs Dewsall) held significant, previously unreported assets, including high-value jewellery kept in a safe at her former country home. Together with her co-defendant and husband, William Dewsall ( Mr Dewsall), she impeded the search of Weald Hall, a property in Essex, England, and its 26 hectares of grounds, the judgment records. That conduct, it adds, provides ample grounds to restrain the pair from dissipating their assets. Gable Insurance AG ( Gable) issued proceedings in March 2023 against Mr Dewsall, its former chief executive officer, and its ex-finance director, Michael Hirschfield. Gable alleges that Mr Dewsall diverted about £19m from the company between 2010 and 2017, when the insurer collapsed. Both men deny the allegations. In March 2024 the insurer amended its claim to also assert that Mrs Dewsall had received...
From the introduction of the orders in April 2024 up to 3 July 2025, the white-collar crime prosecutor has not applied for or secured any of them, per Gherson Solicitors LLP, which filed the information request. HMRC stated it had applied for fewer than five of either type of order, though precise figures could not be shared for fear of identifying the individuals concerned, the request reveals. The powers to issue the orders are intended to assist with the recovery of crypto assets, including bitcoin, which can be exploited as a vehicle for complex money laundering schemes, terrorist financing or drug trafficking. Financial Conduct Authority figures from November 2024 indicate that 12% of UK adults hold crypto......
The board of Dalata Hotel Group Plc has confirmed it has reached agreement on takeover terms with Sweden’s Pandox AB and Norway’s Eiendomsspar AS. The partners are proposing an offer of €6.45 per Dalata share via their bidding vehicle, Pandox Ireland Tuck Ltd. Macfarlanes LLP is advising Pandox and the bidco on English law, led by partner Victoria Hills, with Matheson LLP acting on Irish law. Hayes Solicitors LLP is counsel to Eiendomsspar, while A& L Goodbody LLP is representing Dalata. The bid implies an equity valuation of €1.4bn for Dalata and equates to a 35.5% premium to the €4.76 closing price on 6 March 2025—prior to the company launching a strategic review and initiating a sale process......
Mitterhuber v Hernandez and another [2025] UKUT 194 ( LC) What are the practical implications of this case? This decision confirms a practical, evidence‑based approach to deciding whether an occupier treats a property as their sole or principal home, and recognises that this point may not be addressed head‑on, particularly where the occupier is neither the applicant nor a witness. While there will be occasions when the FTT must draw inferences, the appeal shows that there was sufficient material to satisfy the requirements of section 254(2) of the Housing Act 2004, with particular weight on subsection (c): the premises comprise one or more units of living accommodation that are not a self‑contained flat or flats the living accommodation is used by persons who do not constitute a single household (see HA 2004, s 258) the living...
Presidential Guidance – Open justice in Employment Tribunal proceedings in Scotland – 14 July 2025 The open justice principle means that court proceedings ought to be open and available to the public and the media to secure transparency, accountability and public confidence in the legal system. It is a fundamental pillar of the rule of law. Rule 57 of the Employment Tribunal Rules of Procedure 2024 ( ET Rules 2024), SI 2024/1155, stipulates that any final hearing is to be held in public, subject to ET Rules 2024, SI 2024/1155, Rules 49 and 93 concerning private hearings and national security proceedings. The President of the Employment Tribunals for Scotland has issued guidance on the open justice principle in Presidential Guidance addressing observing, tweeting and recording hearings, together with access to witness statements and other case‑related documents. All employment judges and tribunals in Scotland must have...
R (on the application of Thomas Holdings Ltd and others) v HMRC [2025] EWHC 1660 ( Admin) The proceedings concerned judicial review challenges to AMLD assessments regarding a category of machines operated by the claimants in amusement arcades and bingo halls. It was undisputed that the assessments were correct, as the machines properly fell to be treated as 'gaming machines' under section 25 of the Betting and Gaming Duties Act 1981, where 'the outcome of the game is inherent in the action of the machine'. The claimants nevertheless maintained that, for each assessment, ESC 3.4 or 3.5 (both in force at the relevant time) ought to have been applied, with the result that the AMLD liabilities would not be enforced. ESC 3.4 (misunderstanding) and ESC 3.5 (misdirection) related to VAT and are now obsolete, but HMRC accepted they could, in principle, apply on the facts and...
DUAA 2025 secured Royal Assent on 19 June 2025, bringing it into law in the UK after being approved by Parliament on 11 June 2025. The Act primarily revises Assimilated Regulation ( EU) 2016/679, the United Kingdom General Data Protection Regulation (the UK GDPR), and PECR 2003. This article centres on the updates DUAA 2025 makes to PECR 2003—the UK rules that oversee the use of cookies and other online tracking tools—as well as the requirements relating to electronic marketing communications......
Stenhouse and another v HMRC [2025] UKFTT 820 ( TC) and Abbey Healthcare v HMRC [2025] UKFTT 822 ( TC) In Stenhouse, HMRC issued discovery assessments under section 29 of the Taxes Management Act 1970 totalling £450,000, relying on the extended six‑year window for careless conduct. Further penalties were imposed for several Schedule 36 Finance Act 2008 information notices that had not been observed, with non‑compliance forming the basis for those penalties. HMRC ultimately rejected out‑of‑time appeals against the assessments and the penalties, pointing to delays ranging from 68 to 33 months as excessive. The appellants asked the FTT to allow a late appeal. They contended they could not appeal until they had obtained RBS bank statements, as without them they were unable to challenge HMRC’s calculations. Securing those statements proved difficult, partly because of...
Turner v Coupland Cavendish Ltd [2025] EWHC 1605 ( KB) What are the practical implications of this case? The court held that Part 18 requests can be used in SOCA matters — namely the scrutiny of statutory solicitor bills of costs — and in connected objections to the solicitor-client 'cash account', which likewise arises under statute. Of note was the Appeal Court’s willingness to entertain the Part 18 point despite no formal Part 18 application having been made below. Reflecting the informality that characterises assessment proceedings, the Appeal Court observed that the parties had been led to understand that particular issues would be addressed under the court’s inherent case management jurisdiction ( CPR 3), rendering a formal application superfluous. That stance was in keeping with how the assessment had been managed. Further, where the solicitor incurs charges on the client’s behalf within the cash...
The pilot, a joint initiative between the Department for Work and Pensions and the Department of Health and Social Care, will test alternative approaches to issuing and supporting fit notes (documents completed by physicians setting out an employee’s fitness for work). The government also said the package would expand roles for non-doctor professionals and offer better work-health coaching for patients. Wes Streeting, the health and social care secretary, said that when someone visits their doctor’s surgery anxious about their job, they should leave with a plan rather than a slip of paper that shuts doors, and that we cannot afford to keep writing people off. The changes aim to tackle the present dependence on doctors’ judgements that staff are 'not fit for work'......
A trio of appeal justices unanimously threw out claims against executives from five leading mobile networks— EE, Deutsche Telekom, Orange, Vodafone and Telefonica—accusing them of colluding to push Phones 4u into administration. At a May 2025 hearing, the administrators contended that High Court Judge Peter Roth had ‘misapplied key concepts of competition law’ in dismissing allegations that the networks had jointly decided to remove their products from the retailer. They maintained the 2014 decision to cease supplying Phones 4u was not taken independently, but stemmed from an unlawful conspiracy. All six grounds advanced were rejected on 11 July 2025. The Court of Appeal held that Roth J had ‘made no material error of law’. Central to the appeal was a lunch meeting between Ronan Dunne, then O2 chief executive, and his EE counterpart, Olaf Swantee, at a London hotel. Roth J...
Subsidy control Government publishes direction disapplying the Subsidy Control Act 2022 to the Clean Energy Car Grant Scheme The Department for Business and Trade has issued a direction, dated 13 July 2025 and signed by the Secretary of State, which disapplies sections 52 to 55 of the Subsidy Control Act 2022 in relation to the Clean Energy Car Grant Scheme. The Clean Energy Car Grant Scheme is a £650m initiative providing grants of up to £3,750 towards the purchase of new eligible electric cars......
Karpasitis v County Council [2025] EWCA Civ 788 What was the background? This case concerned a cyclist injured after hitting a hole in a grass verge and being unseated. The County Council sought to rely on a section 58 defence, contending that Mr Cooke had undertaken a walked inspection of the route two months earlier. A document containing GPS information from Mr Cooke’s vehicle on the inspection day was produced; it indicated a single stop lasting three minutes. Mr Cooke’s evidence included that, had he noticed the hole in the verge, he would have logged it as a defect demanding urgent attention. Shortly before trial, the County Council served a Civil Evidence Act Notice relating to his testimony. At trial, however, two witnesses for the County Council stated that Mr Cooke would have marked the defect as not needing urgent attention, directly...
Cotham School v Bristol City Council and another [2025] EWHC 1382 ( Ch) What are the practical implications of this case? This ruling warrants close attention from village green practitioners, including those serving as independent inspectors appointed by commons registration authorities. In particular: as CA 2006, s 1 has not been commenced for the Bristol area, CRA 1965, s 14 remains available where land is entered as a village green (at paras [40]–[42]) the judge had earlier refused the City Council’s bid to participate separately in its landowning capacity as well as as the commons registration authority ( CRA), and comments on that and on whether it is proper for a CRA to do other than maintain neutrality in such matters (at paras [6]–[10]) the judge explains with clarity the method for determining such a claim, stressing the frailty of memory and the...
Ras Al Khaimah Investment Authority v Republic of India [2025] EWHC 1553 ( Comm) What are the practical implications of this case? The Commercial Court Report 2023–2024, released in February 2025, notes a 242% year‑on‑year rise in challenges brought under AA 1996, s 67. Set against the previous period, however, the picture is more muted: translated into absolute terms the increase is from seven to 24 jurisdiction applications in 2023–2024, so the headline percentage risks overstating the trend without context. Ras Al Khaimah Investment Authority v Republic of India sits within the even rarer class of successful section 67 challenges; in 2023–2024 there was only one such success recorded. Given how small the dataset is, Ras Al Khaimah Investment Authority v Republic of India should not be treated as heralding a surge of judicial activism in relation to section 67...
Solicitor-client costs and CFA enforceability— Substance over form ( Richardson & Others v Slater & Gordon UK Ltd) Richardson and others v Slater & Gordon UK Ltd [2025] EWHC 1220 ( SCCO) What are the practical implications of this case? Although the obligation to provide an oral explanation of CFA terms was removed in 2005, this ruling highlights the ongoing value of a clear onboarding process to ensure clients grasp key or atypical CFA provisions, especially where they carry financial consequences. The court found it unnecessary for solicitors to deliver a detailed oral explanation of the workings of a CFA. That said, practitioners are likely to benefit from drawing attention to any unusual or significant clauses and preserving records of those conversations to deter later challenges. While informed consent is not a strict requirement for a CFA to be enforceable, its absence may bear upon the...
Popular documents
When evaluating a general damages claim, the practitioner ought initially to refer to the Judicial College Guidelines (JCG)...
This Practice Note This Practice Note reviews mechanisms used in settling litigation. A Tomlin order consists of a consent order paired with a schedule. It operates to stay proceedings on terms that have been agreed. The provisions contained in the schedule may remain confidential. This Practice Note describes the scope of confidentiality attaching to the schedule and sets out how it differs from a standard consent order. Sample wording for a Tomlin order is included, alongside links to precedents, as well as guidance on court approval. It also addresses varying, setting aside and enforcing a Tomlin order, including the considerations the court will take into account when handling applications for each. Further guidance is provided on interpreting and applying the relevant provisions of the CPR; however, some courts and divisions impose very specific requirements for both drafting and approval, and for approaching the schedule and confidentiality issues. Accordingly, you must consider the particular rules and court guide provisions in the forum where your claim is proceeding when drawing up the Tomlin order...
Date [ date ] Parties [ name of Landlord ] [ of OR incorporated in England and Wales (company registration number [ number ]) with its registered office at ] [ address ] (Landlord) [ name of Tenant ] [ of OR incorporated in England and Wales (company registration number [ number ]) with its registered office at ] [ address ] (Tenant) [ [ name of Guarantor ] [ of OR incorporated in England and Wales (company registration number [ number ]) with its registered office at ] [ address ] (Guarantor) ] [ [ name of Mortgagee ] [ of OR incorporated in England and Wales (company registration number [ number ]) with its registered office at ] [ address ] (Mortgagee) ] Definitions Within this Deed, the terms below shall be interpreted as follows: [ Annual Rent • the annual sum reserved under the Lease; ] [ Insurance Rent • the Tenant’s share of the Landlord’s costs of insuring the Property (as set out in the Lease); ] Lease • the lease of the Property dated [ date ], entered into between (1) [ the Landlord OR [ name ...
I, [ name ], of [ address ], solemnly and sincerely state that: [ Matters to be verified, set out in numbered paragraphs ] I make this solemn statement in good conscience, believing it to be true, and pursuant to the provisions of the Statutory Declarations Act 1835. DECLARED at [ details ] this [ day ] day of [ month and year ] Before me ................................................................................ [ signature of the person before whom the declaration is made ] A [ commissioner for oaths OR [ solicitor OR [ insert other qualification ] ] authorised to administer oaths ]...
Discover more from LexisNexis
