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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...
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The UK ought to introduce a fresh whistleblower reward programme, giving company insiders a reason to steer investigators towards decisive, smoking‑gun material that can tip the balance in intricate economic crime cases, according to Nick Ephgrave, director of the SFO. Ephgrave warned of a ‘brain drain’ as tipsters head to the US to benefit from American agencies that pay for vital evidence. The chief of the white‑collar watchdog made the remarks at the unveiling of a new Royal United Services Institute ( RUSI) report urging a government consultation on the issue. Detectives trawling vast troves of digital data are, he said, ‘scrambling around in the dark’, hunting for crucial details that whistleblowers could readily highlight if they had a clear incentive. ‘ The risks often cited here...amount to an irrefutable case for this country,’ Ephgrave said. ‘ Why, frankly, are we so...
AXA Sun Life plc and other companies v Commissioners of Inland Revenue and another [2024] EWCA Civ 1430 What are the practical implications of this case? This judgment provides clear and practical guidance on: how to define the scope of a ‘ GLO issue’; the default rule that a determination on a GLO issue binds those on the group register at the relevant time; and the circumstances in which the court may properly depart from that rule. What is a GLO issue GLO issues should, so far as practicable, be stated with precision and framed so they can be answered as GLO issues; if an issue is ‘fact-specific’ to the parties in a test claim, it is unlikely to be suitable for determination as a GLO issue. ......
The All- Party Parliamentary Group ( APPG) on Fair Banking The APPG on Fair Banking has asked the High Court to determine that the financial watchdog took an unfair course by declining to act on a damning 2021 review that criticised its oversight of a compensation scheme for customers who may have been mis-sold hedging products. Thomas Roe KC of 3 Hare Court, speaking for the members of Parliament, argued the FCA acted ‘irrationally’ in refusing to alter its position after John Swift KC of Monckton Chambers concluded in his report that the Financial Services Authority ( FSA), the FCA’s predecessor, lacked any objective reason for excluding thousands of customers. Roe contended that no reasonable public authority could respond to Mr Swift’s findings as the FCA has done—essentially by ignoring his conclusions and loudly reiterating its disagreement. He told the court it should quash the...
Antitrust CMA launches investigation in the construction sector regarding suspected bid rigging by companies providing roofing and construction services The CMA has begun a probe into alleged anti-competitive conduct that may infringe the Chapter I prohibition of the Competition Act 1998, centring on suspected bid-rigging connected to the supply of roofing and other construction services for schools eligible to apply for support from the Department for Education’s Condition Improvement Fund ( CIF). CIF funding is issued annually by the Department for Education ( Df E) and can involve sizeable sums. It is largely directed at schools with buildings in poor condition, including projects that tackle health and safety concerns and building compliance. The CMA indicates it has grounds to suspect that several providers of roofing and construction services — including building contractors and technical advisers — unlawfully colluded to manipulate bids to secure contracts financed through the CIF. The...
Hundreds of investors are now seeking to overturn a High Court decision that stops a local authority from advancing a claim about allegedly misleading promotion of Suboxone, an opioid addiction treatment, as a representative action rather than via conventional multi‑party proceedings. It will be the first occasion on which the Court of Appeal decides whether a securities class action, alleging that a listed company issued false statements to the market, may proceed as a representative action at all. Lorraine Lanceley, a partner at Stewarts Law LLP, said that a green light from the appeal judges would send significant ripples throughout the field of securities litigation by allowing share‑price‑drop claims to be run as representative actions. She added that, whatever the outcome, the ruling would be authoritative and important on whether this route is available for representative actions. Wirral Council argued it is firmly entitled to bring an opt‑in claim on...
Riedweg v (1) HCC International Insurance Plc, (2) Sheridan v (1) Forsters LLP, (2) Johns [2024] EWHC 2805 ( Ch) What are the practical implications of this case? Master Brightwell’s ruling, which accords with and develops prior authority, makes clear that an insurer cannot itself add to the proceedings alleged tortfeasors or other parties whom the insured could have joined. Practitioners for insurers should be quick to seek to persuade claimants to join the insured, even if that involves accepting the costs consequences of such joinder, where doing so serves their interests in bringing in other prospective defendants... What was the background? The claimant issued a professional negligence claim. She alleged that Goldplaza Berkeley Square Ltd ( Goldplaza) negligently overvalued a property she agreed to buy for £8m in December 2016. She said she would not have entered into the purchase but for that...
Antitrust Consultation launched on Vifor’s commitments to end CMA’s abuse probe into disparaging treatment in iron treatment market The CMA has opened a consultation on proposed commitments aimed at resolving concerns that Vifor Pharma ( Vifor) abused a dominant position by issuing misleading statements about a competing intravenous iron therapy. By way of context, on 31 January 2024 the CMA began an investigation into whether Vifor—the maker of Ferinject, an intravenous iron deficiency treatment—curbed competition by disseminating misinformation to healthcare professionals about the safety of a rival product, Monofer, which is supplied by Pharmacosmosa, a family-owned specialist pharmaceutical company. To address the CMA’s competition concerns, Vifor has put forward several commitments, including: Paying £23m to healthcare systems across the four nations, reflecting worries that the claims may have caused financial harm to the NHS. Contacting healthcare...
Bugsby Property Llc and another company v Omni Bridgeway ( Fund 5) Cayman Invt Ltd and another company [2024] EWHC 2986 ( Comm) What are the practical implications of this case? The ruling underlines that: whether a provision amounts to an arbitration agreement is a matter of construction, so each clause must be interpreted within its particular context if the agreement also contains a separate arbitration clause, and the wording of the two differs markedly, that contrast may suggest the clause was not intended to operate as an arbitration agreement where the contract offers two arbitral (or other dispute resolution) routes, there is no presumption of a broad and liberal construction for one mechanism ( Barclays Bank v Nylon Capital LLP [2011] EWCA Civ 826) care is required when drafting dispute resolution provisions, especially where more than one process is...
Original news Mr S ( CAS-79505- D9P2)—9 August 2024 Summary The Deputy Pensions Ombudsman partially upheld a grievance concerning a deceptive benefit statement. The complainant ought to have recognised that something was amiss with the statement. Around a month before, he had received a lower projection that assumed ongoing pension contributions; therefore, a later, higher figure calculated on the basis of no additional payments should plainly have signalled an error. Even so, the Ombudsman concluded that issuing inaccurate information and failing to rectify it promptly and in good time amounted to maladministration, and he awarded Mr S £500 to reflect the notable distress and inconvenience suffered. The determination underscores the need for complainants to act reasonably when confronted with a clear mistake in erroneous benefit cases. What were the facts? Mr S was a member of the Royal London Group Personal Pension Plan (the Scheme), which was...
COSCO Shipping Specialised Carriers Co, Ltd v PT OKI Pulp & Paper Mills and others and another matter [2024] SGCA 50 What are the practical implications of this case? This decision offers a concise distillation of the governing principles for assessing whether foreign litigation falls within the scope of an arbitration clause—and is thus brought in contravention of that clause—for the purpose of seeking an anti-suit injunction. It furnishes significant guidance on the bearing of cognate jurisprudence concerning applications to stay court actions in favour of arbitration under s 6 of the Singapore International Arbitration Act 1994, and sets out the proper yardstick for deciding whether there is a ‘dispute arising out of or in connection with’ the parties’ contract where a contractual defence, or a reasonably foreseeable contractual defence, exists to a tort claim, and/or where a contractual cross‑claim is generated by the tort claim. On the...
Asia Pacific Higher Learning Sdn Bhd v Stamford College ( Malacca) Sdn Bhd [2024] MLJU 1712 What are the practical implications of this case? This ruling highlights the need for contracts to contain a precise and clearly framed arbitration clause. Where an arbitration agreement is unclear or clumsily drafted, it may not be enforceable. In this matter, the clause merely offered the parties a choice to settle disputes either by arbitration or in the courts. The court determined that, because there was no compulsory obligation to refer disputes to arbitration, the parties had not given an unequivocal agreement to have their disputes determined by arbitration. The decision further clarifies when a court should employ the ‘prima facie’ approach as opposed to the ‘just and convenient’ approach in deciding whether to stay court proceedings in favour of arbitration......
Hurricanes, severe thunderstorms and floods were the primary drivers of this trend According to the research and development arm of reinsurance heavyweight Swiss Re on 5 December 2024, hurricanes, intense thunderstorms and flooding were the main forces behind the trend. This increase underscores rising risks for the sector, and for the planet, tied to climate change and urban growth. Swiss Re reported that Hurricanes Helene and Milton generated almost US$50bn of insured losses after hitting Florida in late September 2024 and early October 2024. Insured losses refer to payouts by insurers to meet the cost of damage from incidents such as floods, storms or fires. The firm added that severe thunderstorms across the US accounted for more than US$51bn of global losses, making 2024 the second-most-costly year for such storms, behind 2023's record US$70bn. Economic development remains the principal driver of rising insured losses from...
Mergers The Commission approved: the establishment of a joint venture by For Farmers N. V. and team agrar Gmbh ( M.11697) following a phase I review—see Midday Express for further details the acquisition of (i) exclusive control of Navig8 Topco Holdings Inc. by Abu Dhabi Marine Business and Services Company P. J. S. C., and (ii) joint control of Integr8 Fuels Holding Inc. by Navig8 Limited and the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company ( M.11653) after a phase I review—see Midday Express for more Commitments were filed in Case M.11481 Synopsys/ ANSYS ( M......
Arian Financial LLP v The Financial Conduct Authority [2024] UKUT 352 ( TCC) (‘ Arian Financial LLP’) What are the practical implications of this case? Professionals in financial services should study Arian Financial LLP, as the Tribunal provides a clear roadmap for applying DEPP’s Five- Step Framework when setting sanctions. A key takeaway is that Step 1 disgorgement ought to be reduced to take account of any commissions paid to brokers. Step 1 is qualitatively distinct from the punitive components at Steps 2–4; its sole function is to strip out gains so the firm does not profit from wrongdoing. On that basis, the Tribunal held that payments of commission to self-employed brokers are not part of the ‘financial benefit’ the firm itself obtained directly from the breach. That analysis aligns with FCA v Da Vinci Invest Ltd and others [2015] EWHC 2401 ( Da Vinci)....
Manolete Partners plc v White [2024] EWCA Civ 1418 What are the practical implications of this case? The Court of Appeal has overturned the first‑instance decision in Manolete Partners plc v White; Re Lloyds British Testing Ltd (in liquidation) [2023] EWHC 567 ( Ch). It provides a significant interpretation of section 91(2) of the Pensions Act 1995, confirming that the court cannot make orders that would obstruct an individual from receiving occupational pension benefits. The appellate court criticised the High Court for approving an order aimed at circumventing the statutory restriction. It also firmly disagreed that section 37 of the Senior Courts Act 1981 confers jurisdiction to force a member to draw down a pension, even where the scheme grants a right to do so. This ruling is materially important for insolvency and pensions practitioners. It reaffirms the...
Subsidy control The Department of Business and Trade has issued subsidy control principles assessment guidance for public authorities. The Department of Business Trade and Trade ( DBT) released two publications: (i) a new subsidy control principles assessment guide; and (ii) an assessment guide covering Subsidies or Schemes of Interest ( SSo Is) and Subsidies or Schemes of Particular Interest ( SSo PIs). These guidance documents supersede the previous subsidy control principles assessment template. Their purpose is to assist public authorities to record and collate the evidence, analysis and conclusions from their evaluations of whether individual subsidies and subsidy schemes align with the subsidy control principles established under the Subsidy Control Act 2022......
Mergers The Commission approved: the purchase of joint control of Activ Software Holdings LLC by Vista Equity Partnership Management LLC and Warburg Pincus LLC ( M......
NOYB has now been recognised as a ‘ Qualified Entity’, allowing it to pursue collective redress actions before courts across the EU. Under Directive ( EU) 2020/1828, these proceedings may take the shape of either an ‘injunction’ or a ‘redress’ measure. An injunction typically bars a company from unlawful conduct, including any GDPR breaches. Redress measures provide a European counterpart to a ‘ Class Action’, so NOYB can represent thousands or even millions of users and, for instance, claim non-material damages when personal data has been processed unlawfully. Approval in Austria and Ireland-valid throughout the EU. The EU’s collective redress model relies on non-profit organisations that must first be approved as ‘ Qualified Entities’ ( QE) to bring enforcement proceedings. Unlike the ‘wild west’ style under US law, where any law firm can launch so-called ‘ Class Actions’—often to their own...
Original news Mr N ( CAS-49110- X6N4)—16 August 2024 Summary The Pensions Ombudsman has found in favour of a complaint concerning an insurer’s refusal to allow flexibility around a guaranteed annuity rate. The complainant held two insurance policies, with only one benefiting from a guaranteed annuity rate. To access that guarantee, the insurer insisted he take all of his benefits with the same provider. The Ombudsman concluded that nothing in the policy wording permitted the insurer to curtail the member’s flexibility in this manner. This determination underscores that the contractual terms are pivotal in defining an insurer’s rights and obligations. What were the facts?......
Original news Mr E ( CAS-59038- H7W0)—9 August 2024 Summary The Deputy Pension Protection Fund Ombudsman has dismissed a complaint about the compensation level set by the Pension Protection Fund ( PPF). The Deputy PPF Ombudsman found no proof that the complainant’s benefits avoided merger with a scheme that entered a PPF assessment period, or that his pension was protected by an insurance policy. As a result, the complainant experienced a substantial reduction to his pension, because the PPF does not apply increases to pension earned before April 1997. The Deputy PPF Ombudsman’s decision serves as a reminder that the statutory level of PPF compensation can, in certain cases, lead to a significant reduction in a member’s benefits. What were the facts?......
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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 ]...
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