Legal News

Chemidex Generics Ltd v HMRC [2024] UKFTT 1146 ( TC). Chemidex Generics Ltd ( CGL) obtained IP tied to certain out-of-patent pharmaceutical products, together with related assets such as marketing authorisations (the Product Assets), from a partnership created by Mr Navin Engineer and Mrs Varsha Engineer (together, the Partners). In most cases, the Partners had put in place profit sharing agreements ( PSAs) with Chemidex Pharma Ltd ( CPL), a company wholly owned by them, as was CGL. Under those PSAs, CPL held the right to exploit the Product Assets. Following the transfer, CGL owned the Product Assets and enjoyed the benefit of the various PSAs. It was common ground that the Product Assets were chargeable intangible fixed assets ( IFAs) and therefore came within the IFA code in Part 8 of the Corporation Tax Act 2009 ( CTA 2009). It was also common ground that CGL and...

See Q& A: Where we act for the seller of a property at auction, are we obliged to carry out AML source of funds checks on the deposit paid by the buyer to the auctioneer before accepting the same from the auctioneer? There is not a universal obligation to verify the origin of funds for every client or every matter. However, the Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and Transfer of Funds ( Information on the Payer) Regulations 2017 ( MLR 2017), SI 2017/692, as amended, do require you, where necessary as part of ongoing monitoring, to identify the source of funds used in a transaction. The MLR 2017 further mandate that you confirm the source of funds and the source of wealth when undertaking client due diligence ( CDD): for politically exposed persons, together with family members and known close...

This guidance serves as an extensive resource setting out the FCA’s expectations and processes for pinpointing controllers, lodging change-in-control notices, and evaluating planned acquisitions or increases in control. Its overarching purpose is to help firms and individuals engaged in acquiring or expanding control of UK-incorporated authorised firms (including banks, investment firms and insurers) to grasp the applicable regulatory obligations and steps, thereby supporting a resilient and transparent financial system. It further signals heightened regulatory attention in the UK to transactions featuring private equity purchasers. Background to the UK change-in-control regime Under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 ( FSMA), anyone proposing to obtain control, whether directly or indirectly, of a UK-authorised firm must notify the relevant regulator—either the FCA or the Prudential Regulation Authority ( PRA), depending on which body has authorised the firm—and secure approval before completing the...

LCP indicated that a competitor to Clara- Pensions could be introduced to tap accelerating demand for de-risking among workplace pension scheme providers. The firm also expects transactions worth between £40bn and £50bn to proceed over the next 12 months. Although analysts have not yet finished totting up the value of deals concluded in 2024, the final figures are likely to land towards the lower end of that range. “ The fledgling superfund market is poised for expansion, underpinned by a new regulatory framework that is due to be laid before parliament this year”......

Mergers The Commission authorised the formation of a joint venture between AB Sagax and Swiss Life Investment Management Holding AG ( M.11794) following a phase I investigation—see further, Midday Express. The Commission received notifications for: Towerbrook/ JC Flowers/ Railsr/ Equals ( M.11816) (simplified merger procedure) EFMS/ Leigh/ Calisen Midco I ( M.11844) (simplified merger procedure) NOTE— For all active merger investigations before the Commission, see the EU mergers—ongoing cases tracker. Upcoming dates For dates of forthcoming EU competition developments, see the EU Competition calendar......

Planning policy Revised National Planning Policy Framework published This review considers the principal planning developments from 2024. For a summary of the key planning cases in 2024, see: 2024 key cases round up for planning lawyers. On 12 December 2024, the government issued a refreshed National Planning Policy Framework ( NPPF), alongside its response to the July 2024 consultation on proposed NPPF changes. In an accompanying written ministerial statement, Matthew Pennycook, Minister of State for Housing and Planning, said the national policy updates are needed to free up land to deliver 1.5 million homes and the scale of infrastructure required to support growth. The release of the revised NPPF follows an eight-week consultation conducted from July to September 2024 on suggested revisions. Key measures adopted include overturning the December 2023 amendments made by the previous government, which had treated the standard method’s outcome as an...

This News Analysis provides a review of the standout cases from 2024 for planning lawyers. For a round-up of the major developments shaping planning law and practice during 2024, together with a forward glance at what is anticipated in 2025, see Key planning law developments—end of year review 2024 and what to expect in 2025. Environmental impact assessment Assessment of likely downstream effects In Finch v Surrey CC, the Supreme Court, by a 3:2 majority, held that the permission to retain and expand an established onshore oil well site, and to drill four additional hydrocarbon wells so that output could be taken from six wells in total, was unlawful because it failed to assess the ‘downstream’ GHG emissions that will inevitably arise when the refined fuel is burnt. That omission to consider downstream, or ‘ Scope 3’, emissions was found to contravene the Town and...

The Financial Conduct Authority ( FCA) The Financial Conduct Authority ( FCA) opened 2024 by introducing fresh rules aimed at curbing the expense of insuring flats in residential blocks. Almost immediately, consumer advocates and Members of Parliament pressed for deeper action on pricing across a wide spectrum of insurance lines. For the regulator, a central issue has been whether various commission structures in insurance deliver fair value for customers or risk infringing the new Consumer Duty, which puts consumer protection first. According to Hugh Savill, senior adviser at risk consultancy Sicsic Advisory, the FCA insists it is not a price regulator. While that is, strictly, accurate, the year nevertheless revealed a sharper focus on the way brokers and insurers determine prices and margins. Meanwhile, the Prudential Regulation Authority ( PRA) has been called upon to address non-financial misconduct, including bullying and...

Meril Life Sciences PVT Ltd & others v Edwards Lifesciences Corporation UPC- Co A-551/2024 Background In late October 2023, Edwards commenced infringement proceedings against Meril, relying on its Unitary Patent ( EP 3,769,722), before the Nordic‑ Baltic RD. The patent had been granted in June 2023 and, in March 2024, Meril lodged an opposition, shortly before submitting a revocation counterclaim within the UPC action. Together with those revocation counterclaims, Meril also applied in the infringement case, asking the court to stay the proceedings pending a decision by the EPO’s Opposition Division on the validity of the EPO. Neither side sought expedition of the EPO proceedings. Nevertheless, following UPC notification to the EPO of the corresponding infringement case on 20 March 2024, the EPO fast‑tracked the matter, listing the hearing for 17 January 2025 and shortening the period for final written submissions from the...

EAT overturns decision to re-engage Paul Sellers The EAT set aside an order that Paul Sellers be re-engaged as a county director, or in an equivalent role, at the British Council after concluding the Employment Tribunal had gone wrong in law. The ET considered whether the investigation’s conclusions on his alleged misconduct were fair, when it should only have assessed whether the organisation’s belief was genuinely held, according to a ruling issued on 3 January 2025. The EAT stated that the question before the ET was whether, as a matter of fact, re-engagement was likely to be practicable where the respondent had accepted a report characterised as “competent… and… transparently independent”. The charity, which promotes English language and culture overseas, dismissed Sellers after allegations that he sexually assaulted a British Embassy employee at a Christmas party in Italy in 2018, identified only as ZZ, the...

On 2 January 2025, Rachel Kent recorded, in a report concerning a December 2024 complaint, that the complainant cited a 2022 employment tribunal judgment highlighting worries within the FCA about the possible harms posed by the peer-to-peer lending sector at issue. That ruling suggested the regulator had been slow to respond, and, Kent said, the issue had appeared in the press at the time. Peer-to-peer ( P2P) lending is a form of crowdfunding that matches individual lenders with borrowers seeking finance. The complaint, dated 11 December 2024 and relying on that judgment, concerned an investment the complainant made in 2016 with an anonymised lender identified as firm X. The complainant suffered heavy losses owing to bad debt and loan defaults......

UK moves to protect prosecutors from deep-pocketed individuals in suspected dirty-money cases could see enforcers becoming braver in taking on Kleptocrats Moves in the UK to shield prosecutors from the resources of well-heeled suspects in alleged dirty-money matters may embolden enforcers to tackle Kleptocrats more boldly. Yet, past experience indicates a surge of fresh actions remains improbable. The government stated last month that it sees value in bringing in ‘costs protection’ for agencies pursuing the recovery of criminal proceeds through civil routes. The plan follows anxieties that public bodies have been hamstrung in confronting affluent figures tied to suspected illicit funds, owing to the risk that civil courts might oblige them to shoulder substantial legal fees. Authorities have already received similar safeguards when deploying Unexplained Wealth Orders ( UWOs), after the National Crime Agency ( NCA) was hit with £1.5m in costs when it lost a...

Elsewhere, a Chinese woman accused of washing bitcoin faces trial, while former Barclays chief Jes Staley plans to contest his prohibition imposed by the Financial Conduct Authority ( FCA). And the Serious Fraud Office ( SFO) will finish the year still resisting ENRC's claim for £240m in damages over the agency’s mishandled investigation into the mining group affair. Here, Law360 surveys these matters alongside other corporate crime cases to monitor in the year ahead. SRA v Dentons, round two The Solicitors Regulation Authority ( SRA) intends to contest findings that Dentons’ anti-money laundering shortcomings did not amount to professional misconduct, a ruling delivered in June 2025 instead. At an appeal listed for 29 January 2025 in the High Court, the legal regulator will seek to overturn the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal’s dismissal of its case alleging Dentons UK and Middle East LLP breached...

What are the practical implications of this case? Determining forum in a case of this nature requires the judge to weigh a spectrum of factors, any of which may indicate a more suitable jurisdiction. Reasonable evaluators can legitimately differ—both in how they assess specific evidence and in the importance they attach to competing considerations. On appeal, intervention is tightly confined: the appellate court will step in only if the first instance court has strayed in principle or reached a result outside the wide range within which fair disagreement is possible, and is therefore plainly wrong. Considering matters that were irrelevant Overlooking relevant matters Arriving at a conclusion beyond the generous ambit of reasonable disagreement In this case, multiple errors were identified. Consequently, the Court of Appeal considered it right to conduct its own assessment of the Spiliada criteria and to reach its own...

Re Light Sa Em Recuperação Judicial [2024] EWHC 2733 ( Ch) What are the practical implications of this case? The High Court’s endorsement of the Scheme carries notable practical consequences for international restructuring practice, especially in cross‑border insolvencies. First, the matter showcases the adaptability and usefulness of English law and the English courts in delivering sophisticated multinational restructurings, including for entities with no UK domicile. By approving a Scheme that shifted the governing law from New York to English law solely to implement the restructuring, the court evidenced a pragmatic willingness to enable effective reorganisations of overseas businesses. Second, the ruling spotlights the centrality of international enforceability and recognition to cross‑border restructuring techniques. The court examined whether the Scheme would be recognised in Brazil, the principal jurisdiction of Light SA’s operations, and considered prospective recognition in the US on comity grounds. This underlines the...

Prismall v Google UK Ltd and another company [2024] EWCA Civ 1516 What are the practical implications of this case? This Court of Appeal ruling does not meaningfully develop the jurisprudence, yet it underlines the formidable obstacles to pursuing a representative claim for misuse of private information. Following the Supreme Court’s decision in Lloyd v Google LLC [2021] UKSC 50, which effectively closed the door on representative actions for data protection breaches, claimants turned instead to misuse of private information as the preferred route. The court recognised, however, that such claims are generally inherently ill‑suited to representative procedures because, in practice, individual circumstances determine whether a given claimant enjoys a reasonable expectation of privacy; that assessment, in turn, dictates whether the entire cohort can be said to share the ‘same interest’, as strictly required by CPR 19.8. Where a class may comprise hundreds or even...

The Kingdom of Spain v The London Steam- Ship Owners’ Mutual Insurance Association Ltd and other cases [2024] EWCA Civ 1536 What are the practical implications of this case? This decision from the English Court of Appeal confirms that a final arbitral award gives rise to res judicata, constituting a public policy basis to refuse recognition or registration of a judgment, and again underscores the English courts’ backing for arbitration and the New York Convention. That said, the ruling highlights the real-world difficulties for parties confronted with overlapping State-initiated proceedings, and the perils of declining to engage in litigation abroad. It also clarifies that arbitrators have no power to issue injunctions restraining States from commencing proceedings, and that neither arbitrators nor the courts can grant damages against States as a substitute for an injunction under SCA 1981, s 50. The decision serves as a reminder of the...

Gill v Gill and others [2024] EWHC 2876 ( Ch) What are the practical implications of this case? The judgment offers a concise articulation of the principles governing unfair prejudice petitions, stressing that the fitting remedy will be shaped by the facts of each case. It also underscores the importance of meticulous pleadings in this context. Despite the often emotive nature of such disputes, the court warned against the ‘fastidious and narrow-minded pursuit of every conceivable category of financial compensation’. The early, consensual instruction of a single joint expert signifies that the parties anticipate any relief, if granted, will take the form of a share purchase order; otherwise, the exercise would squander time and expense. Subsequently attempting to pursue additional routes apparently encompassed by the expert’s remit is unlikely to gain traction and will attract costs...

Mergers Following a phase I review, the Commission approved EEW Holding and Sumitomo acquiring joint control of EEW Offshore Wind EU ( M.11717)—see the Midday Express for further details In Case M.11564 International Paper/ DS Smith, commitments have been filed NOTE— For all current merger investigations before the Commission, please see the EU mergers—ongoing cases tracker Upcoming dates For dates of forthcoming EU competition developments, see the EU Competition calendar......

JTC Employer Solutions Trustee Ltd v Garnett and another [2024] EWHC 3128 ( Ch) JTC Employer Solutions Trustee Ltd served as trustee to two arrangements: the 2005 Henderson Family Benefit Trust and the 2011 Henderson Group plc Employer‑ Financed Retirement Scheme. Both trusts were intended to deliver benefits to employees, ex‑employees and their families. The defendants, Mr Garnett and Mr Sekhon, appeared as representative beneficiaries and raised no objection to the relief the claimants pursued. The claimants asked the court to rescind a number of deeds establishing sub‑trusts for named beneficiaries and their relatives. Their rationale was that, under section 86(1) of the Inheritance Tax Act 1984 ( IHTA 1984), employee benefit trusts avoid the relevant property regime only where the beneficiary class comprises ‘all or most’ employees or office‑holders (see IHTA 1984, s 86(3)(a)). HMRC’s position was that the exemption was...