Legal News

Arbitration and oppression claims under Cayman Law ( PI 1 & PI 2 v MR) PI 1 & PI 2 v MR [2025] HKCFI 1110 What are the practical implications of this case? This judgment supplies practical direction for resolving shareholder conflicts by arbitration where Cayman-incorporated companies have Hong Kong ties. It confirms that arbitral tribunals may determine factual complaints of oppression, discriminatory behaviour, or a loss of confidence in governance, even if the claimant subsequently seeks relief from the Cayman court. Arbitrability addresses whether the subject matter can be determined by arbitration at all. If the tribunal is asked to assess breaches of shareholder agreements or factual misconduct, the dispute remains arbitrable. Only statutory remedies under the Cayman Companies Act—such as a winding-up order or a buyout—are reserved to the court’s jurisdiction. Scope concerns whether the arbitration clause embraces the claims. Where the...

Arthur J Gallagher noted on 21 April 2025 that pricing was easing as competition in the market intensified, even after several significant losses in early 2025. Underwriters may have to pay as much as US$300m in potential payouts after the North Sea collision in March 2025 involving the container vessel Solong and the oil tanker Stena Immaculate. Gallagher also cautioned that machinery repair claim costs were climbing steadily amid broader global inflation. ' Broad-based rate cuts, together with rising claim expenses, can......

Mergers The Commission approved: the acquisition for joint control over Bharat Grid Private Limited by Actis GP LLP and Electricité de France S. A. ( M.11962), following a phase I review—see also Midday Express the acquisition conferring sole control of Verallia S. A. by BW Gestão de Investimentos Ltda......

Mergers The CMA has confirmed it accepted undertakings offered by the parties instead of referring the completed purchase by Topps Tiles Plc of specified assets from Tildist Realisations Limited (formerly CTD Tiles Limited) for a phase 2 review—see further, final undertakings NOTE— For all live mergers before the CMA, see further, UK mergers—ongoing cases tracker Upcoming dates For dates of forthcoming UK competition developments, see further, UK Competition calendar......

What are the practical implications of this judgment? In Madu, the EAT examined whether applications for costs in discrimination cases ought to be handled differently from those in other types of claim. HHJ James Taylor indicated that the reply is both no and, often, yes: the legal criterion for awarding costs is uniform across all complaints, yet many discrimination and analogous claims have characteristics that demand particular attention when applying that test, and policy considerations may specifically influence such cases. This judgment reinforces that: as a matter of public policy, the bar for obtaining a costs order under the ET Rules 2024, SI 2024/1155 is set high. The ET regime is intended to promote access to justice, including for employee claimants seeking remedies against employers ETs should take account of the challenges faced by...

Patel v Patel [2025] EWHC 560 ( Ch) What are the practical implications of this case? The ruling showcases the court’s down‑to‑earth method for settling a delicate question. Although outcomes are fact‑sensitive, the thread running through the authorities is the court’s primary aim to head off ‘unseemly’ quarrels within a deceased person’s family and to secure the ‘decent and respectful disposal of the body without undue delay’ (per Chief Master Shuman in Read v Hoarean [2024] EWHC 3274 ( Ch), cited). It further underlines that, even where the deceased’s intentions can be identified — something often fraught, given the risk of relatives misremembering or misunderstanding, or the deceased’s shifting preferences — those intentions are not conclusive and may yield to other factors, most notably the wishes of the living and the practical realities of disposal. Such balancing reflects a pragmatic approach and...

In its strategy, the FCA signals a rethink of the data it seeks, including scrapping certain routine returns, so it only gathers information it genuinely needs and will use, alongside a forthcoming review of the redress regime. The FCA recognises that the current framework can create uncertainty for consumers, firms and their investors, potentially damping investment and innovation. Its secondary objective of promoting international competitiveness and growth is evident throughout, seemingly addressing recent criticism that this aim has not been given sufficient weight. A clear example is the repeated emphasis on avoiding unduly burdensome regulation and the perceived drag on growth that such rules can bring. As a consequence, a less interventionist stance appears likely in the near future. However, regulated firms should be under no illusion: the strategy also contains firm commitments to act assertively where the risk of harm is...

Re Outsideclinic Ltd [2025] EWHC 875 ( Ch) What are the practical implications of this case? This decision holds practical relevance for the mid-market. It illustrates that companies still striving to emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic, and unable to satisfy a familiar cohort of creditors—such as HMRC, a secured creditor, suppliers asserting proprietary rights in their stock, unsecured creditors and landlords—can, with rigorous financial scrutiny and analysis, demonstrate to their creditors and to the court that a restructuring plan may attract not only HMRC’s support (together with the majority of the other compromised creditors and the court), but HMRC’s vote in favour of the plan. The case is striking because HMRC used the sanction hearing to signal to companies in England and Wales a willingness, where appropriate, to back Restructuring Plans. It is of procedural interest to restructuring...

The task force brings together: The UK Serious Fraud Office ( SFO) France's National Financial Prosecutor's Office, Parquet National Financier ( PNF) The Swiss Office of the Attorney General of Switzerland ( OAG) Its founding declaration unequivocally affirmed the trio's unwavering resolve to combat bribery and corruption under domestic and international legal regimes. Businesses within the reach of these authorities' jurisdictions—including US companies operating in Europe—should continue to uphold rigorous, well-embedded anti-corruption programmes. Purpose of the task force Its creation crowns more than ten years of close operational partnership among the three nations, spanning tightly coordinated cross-border enquiries, systematic intelligence collection, and law-enforcement information sharing and co-operation. Among other outcomes, the task force will deliver: a leaders' group dedicated to the regular and routine exchange of insight and strategy a working group tasked with developing proposals for case...

Digital Markets Act Commission fines Apple €500m for breaching DMA anti-steering obligation The Commission has delivered an infringement decision and levied penalties amounting to €500m against Apple for violating its anti-steering duty under the Digital Markets Act ( DMA). Background On 25 March 2024, the Commission launched a non-compliance inquiry into Apple’s App Store steering rules. Under the DMA, developers offering apps through Apple’s App Store must be able, at no cost, to tell customers about alternatives outside the App Store, guide them to those options, and permit purchases there. Commission’s decision The Commission determined that Apple did not meet this obligation. Owing to multiple constraints imposed by Apple, developers are prevented from fully leveraging alternative distribution routes beyond the App Store. Likewise, consumers are hindered from benefiting from alternative and lower-priced offers, as Apple restricts developers from directly informing users of such options. Apple failed to show that these...

By refusing to grant certiorari on appraiser Juan Cartaya’s petition, the Supreme Court has, for now, declined to clarify whether a loss-appraisal procedure—like the one in Travelers Indemnity Co’s commercial property policy—amounts to “arbitration” under the FAA. Pointing out that every federal circuit court recognises arbitral immunity, which affords arbitrators judge-like immunity protections, Cartaya maintained he should have been insulated from the jury’s roughly US$600,000 fraud verdict in favour of Travelers, as his appraiser role was, in substance, that of an arbitrator. He also pressed the Court to decide, definitively, which body of law—state or federal—defines what counts as FAA arbitration. In October 2023, a three-judge appellate panel affirmed the trial court’s entry of the fraud award, plus litigation expenses, to Travelers, on appeal. In an unpublished decision, it ultimately concluded the policy’s appraisal scheme was not arbitration because it provides no route to...

Subsidy control The Subsidy Advice Unit has released its concluding report with guidance for the Department for Business and Trade on its proposed Post Office ( Future Technology Portfolio 2025 to 2026) subsidy—see further, final report. NOTE— For every decision referred to the Subsidy Advice Unit under the Subsidy Control Act 2022, see further, UK subsidy control—ongoing cases tracker. Competition policy The CMA has issued its response to the Department for Transport’s consultation ‘ A railway fit for Britain’s future’—see further, response. It revisits the CMA’s earlier advice on competition in ticket retailing. It also highlights the possible advantages of factoring passenger outcomes into Great British Rail’s Access and Use policy. The CMA reiterates its continuing offer of advisory support as the UK government progresses reforms in the sector. Upcoming dates For dates of forthcoming UK competition developments, see further, UK...

Re M ( A Child: Intermediaries) [2025] EWCA Civ 440 What are the practical implications of this case? This ruling will resonate with all practitioners working with vulnerable parties. For years, drawing on several High Court authorities, the prevailing approach to intermediaries under FPR 2010, SI 2010/2955, r 3A.7 has been restrained, with appointments or their use viewed as justified only in rare or exceptional situations. The Court of Appeal has disapproved that constricted reading of the discretionary test. It directs judges to decide matters on the facts of the individual case, attending only to the plain structure of FPR 2010, SI 2010/2955, r 3A.7 and its requirement of ‘necessity’, and to resist adding any gloss or extra hurdles. The unusual nature of such applications, or the infrequency with which adjournments have been allowed for want of......

Clarke v Matthew Poole and others [2025] EWCA Civ 447 What are the practical implications of this case? The case engages CPR 52.30 (reopening of final appeals) and highlights the central role of personal autonomy when considering objections to testing. It remains a realistic prospect that the claimant’s appeal may ultimately fail, and there could be a restatement of the Laycock test. Safeguarding the personal autonomy of those turning to the courts for justice is fundamental to judges’ decision-making, as is maintaining clarity in the principles they apply... What was the background? The claimant’s mother and maternal grandfather were carriers of the DM gene yet were asymptomatic. Before the accident, when given the choice, the claimant declined EMG testing. She did not wish to find out whether she had DM, to bear the anxiety that knowledge might bring, or indeed to have......

What is the background to the review? In October 2023, the Home Office asked Jonathan Fisher KC to carry out an independent review of Disclosure and Fraud offences (the ‘ Review’). Announced under the Conservative government’s 2023 Fraud Strategy, the Review was commissioned to examine how effectively the disclosure regime operates and whether the existing legislative framework is fit to tackle the demands of modern fraud. The catalyst was the exponential growth in material generated in criminal investigations and the resulting pressure on the criminal disclosure system. As society becomes ever more digitised, the quantity of case material has surged, most starkly in ‘sophisticated’ offences such as fraud, which are document-heavy and increasingly reliant on digital evidence. The framework set by the Criminal Procedure and Investigations Act 1996 (the ‘ CPIA 1996’) has struggled to keep pace, and, as highlighted in the...

Navid Doroudvash v Zurich Insurance plc (1) The Commissioner of the Police for the Metropolis (2 ) [2025] Lexis Citation 756 With an unusual procedural backdrop, the matter was listed before His Honour Judge Holmes at the County Court at Central London, on Zurich’s bid to pursue an extra claim for contribution or indemnity against the Commissioner. The hearing further considered the claimant’s distinct attempt to join the Commissioner as a second defendant after limitation had expired. This note focuses on Zurich’s application, as it seems to raise an issue not previously aired, or at any rate not addressed in a reported decision. Despite the underlying facts, the Commissioner resisted the bid on a technical point likely to surprise practitioners handling motor claims for insurers. The court reached a pragmatic outcome, hopefully laying to rest an argument that threatened to cut across the purpose and...

The European Commission has concluded its EU Digital Markets Act ( EU DMA) probe into Apple’s user choice obligations after i OS changes, featuring a redesigned browser choice screen and wider app removal options......

Expert Tooling and Automation Ltd v Engie Power Ltd [2025] EWCA Civ 292 What are the practical implications of this case? The Court of Appeal’s judgment highlights central factors for commercial practitioners when examining claims involving half-secret commission, the scope of disclosure, the need for informed consent, and the part played by dishonesty... Relevance of Johnson v Firstrand: clarifying half-secret commissions and dishonesty Lord Justice Zacaroli referred to the leading and most recent authority on secret and partly disclosed commissions, Johnson v First Rand Bank Ltd [2024] EWCA Civ 1282. The Supreme Court heard the appeal in April 2025, with its decision still awaited. Johnson confirmed that where a broker accepts commission from a finance provider without securing the buyer’s informed consent, the broker is in breach of fiduciary duty, and the payer’s responsibility is contingent on dishonesty. Following that analysis, the Court of Appeal drew...

See Q& A: Where an individual dies with UK nationality, domiciled in Scotland, with assets in England and Scotland, would their Will executed in accordance with the law of any part of the UK be validly executed under section 1 of the Wills Act 1963? What is the position as regards conflicts of laws as between England and Scotland? Which laws would apply to the succession of their moveable and immoveable assets situated in England and Scotland? Section 1 of the Wills Act 1963 ( WA 1963) sets out the overarching rule on the formal validity of a Will. In broad terms, a Will is regarded as validly executed if it accords with the internal law of any of the following: the country where it was executed; the country in which the testator was domiciled or habitually resident; or the country of which the...

In cross-border settings, the difficulty of enforcing foreign court judgments often drives international parties and practitioners to opt for international arbitration. With shifting tariff regimes and increasingly strained relations between the US and key trading partners, arbitration is poised to play an even larger part in resolving disputes. To clarify how awards are enforced, this article outlines the enforcement pathway so that those involved in cross-border disputes can plan ahead. It highlights three principal jurisdictions: the US, the People’s Republic of China, and Mexico... Arbitral awards are generally easier to enforce due to a strong framework of multilateral treaties that support their recognition and enforcement. The best known is the 1958 Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards, the New York Convention, with many subsequent instruments following its example. By contrast, enforcing a foreign judgment is far more...