Legal News

An automated contract might see a smart refrigerator reorder milk the moment supplies run dry, or a production line seek out a missing part without a person placing the order. Yet this emerging method of contracting is already stirring considerable debate among policymakers and legal scholars. Conventional contract law has long presumed that people alone took the decisions. Consequently, the EU executive is weighing a possible regulatory response. The initiative remains at a very nascent stage, with officials commissioning a study ‘on novel forms of contracting in the digital economy’ and collecting broad stakeholder views, MLex has learnt. According to a letter from the Commission inviting a stakeholder’s input, seen by MLex, ‘the study assesses how far existing legal frameworks can support business models that use AI in contracting, while delivering legal certainty for companies and protecting the rights of all...

Subsidy control The application has been released in Mr Aubrey Weis v Greater Manchester Combined Authority, an appeal lodged by Mr Weis under section 70 of the Subsidy Control Act 2022, contesting the Manchester Combined Authority’s decision to award subsidies by way of loans to two special purpose vehicles—see the application for further details. Note— For all live appeals under the Subsidy Control Act 2022 and the appeal courts, see further, UK subsidy control—appeals tracker. Upcoming dates— For dates of forthcoming UK competition developments, see further, UK Competition calendar......

Woods v HMRC [2024] UKFTT 595 ( TC) FA 2022, s 97 was passed after the Upper Tribunal ( UT) ruling in Wilkes [2021] UKUT 150 ( TCC), which determined that a discovery assessment could not be made for the HICBC; that stance was later upheld by the Court of Appeal. FA 2022, s 97 revised the discovery provisions so that such assessments could be raised from 2021–22 onwards, and it also operated retrospectively to legitimise assessments for prior years that were classed as ‘protected assessments’. An assessment will not be protected where an appeal was lodged before 30 June 2021 and, by that date, the Wilkes point had been advanced by the taxpayer or the FTT, or the appeal had been stayed before 27 October 2021 on account of that point......

Re D and another ( Fact- Finding: Research Literature) [2024] EWCA Civ 663, [2024] All ER ( D) 90 ( Jun) What are the practical implications of this case? This decision emphasises that, when making findings of fact, the court must evaluate the evidence as a whole. Judges should avoid placing disproportionate weight on medical research publications. The ruling further cautions against judges adopting an ‘expert’ mantle by conducting their own interpretation of scientific papers. It also highlights the particular challenges inherent in appraising medical material on the causation of intracranial haemorrhage. With the Suspected Inflicted Head Injury Service ( SIHIS) pilot being introduced within selected NHS Trusts, the case may prove significant in illustrating the continuing need for rigorous judicial scrutiny and the testing, through cross-examination, of multiple experts. Determinations should arise from synthesising all strands of material together...

The parliamentary vote earlier this month saw parties fix on headline voter worries: the economy, the cost-of-living crisis and healthcare. With a commanding lead in the polls, Labour avoided spooking the horses or appearing anti-business by holding back from heavy new corporate rules, preferring caution over setting out onerous regulations for companies. Now, however, in office with a sizeable majority, it may move to tighten the screws decisively on money launderers and other financial offenders—potentially as soon as 10 July 2024, when its priority legislative programme is set out in the King's Speech ceremony. Legislation As an opening step, ministers could revive the Criminal Justice Bill, which fell in the pre-election rush to push through outstanding laws. Although it made headlines for controversial plans aimed at issues such as rough sleeping, the bill also contained reforms designed to help prosecutors more readily seize illicit,...

Judge Gregory Perrins ruled at Southwark Crown Court that the SFO is not required to repay Gianni Rivera, a former Greenergy fuel trader, for the costs of fighting fraud and money‑laundering allegations. Rivera, cleared in June 2024, contended the SFO ought to cover his legal expenses after his first trial date in September 2022 was adjourned and the case ultimately proceeded in May this year. According to his lawyer, he had sought as much as £1.6m. He argued the postponement left him out of pocket for a prolonged period......

G Masiero and others v Barchester Healthcare Ltd [2024] EAT 112 On 12 July 2024, Judge Holly Stout, in [2024] EAT 112, upheld a tribunal’s decision that Barchester Healthcare Ltd acted fairly in dismissing four staff who declined the coronavirus vaccination. In her reasons, Judge Stout stated that the Tribunal did not 'overegg' the case by supposing that permitting the claimants to continue working unvaccinated would have infringed residents’ right to life; rather, the appellate tribunal recorded that it had taken a 'realistic understanding' of the extent to which vaccination could have reduced risks to residents’ lives in that context. Care home workers Galina Dimitrova, Sammy‑ Jo Chadwick, Joanna Hussain and a colleague identified only as G Masiero appealed after the Employment Tribunal in 2022 held that the care home’s objective of protecting residents by mandating vaccination outweighed workers’ rights under the European...

Wright and another (liquidators of BHS Group Ltd and other companies (all in liquidation)) v Chappell and others [2024] EWHC 1417 ( Ch) What are the practical implications of this case? This is an important judgment that maps the many risks and potentially competing obligations confronting directors as they try to navigate a distressed company away from insolvency, where the prospect of failure can shift from possible, to probable, to inevitable. The result on the trading misfeasance claim shows that the moment when liability can arise for directors who do not take account of creditors’ interests and who fail to move straight to administration can be identified, even if the criteria for a wrongful trading claim (under IA 1986, s 214) are not yet fulfilled. It remains to be seen how the court will ultimately assess equitable compensation for that aspect of the...

Mergers The CMA has initiated its phase 1 inquiry regarding Microsoft Corporation’s recruitment of particular former staff of Inflection AI, Inc. ( Inflection) and its involvement in related arrangements with Inflection—see the case page for further details. Note— For every live merger before the CMA, please consult the UK mergers—ongoing cases tracker. Upcoming dates: For forthcoming UK competition milestones, see the UK Competition calendar......

Mitchell and others v Al Jaber; Al Jaber and others v JJW Ltd [2024] EWCA Civ 423 What are the practical implications of this case? In most cases, once a company enters liquidation, directors recognise they have no ongoing function after a liquidator is appointed and simply meet their obligation to co-operate with the liquidator. If they nevertheless choose to make decisions or take action after liquidation, they risk being treated as intermeddlers. As intermeddlers, directors assume a fresh suite of duties and, if these are breached, the liquidator may bring a claim against them. Though it is uncommon for directors to try to continue directing or influencing a company in liquidation, this judgment allows liquidators to remind directors to yield to the liquidator’s authority and, if a director still acts rashly, to hold them liable for any losses or damage resulting from such...

The FOS, serving as a neutral adjudicator in rows between customers and financial services firms, reported handling slightly more than 47,000 grievances regarding insurance products. These totals place insurance firmly among the most complained-about areas. Car and motorbike insurance topped the list with 16,300 cases, a 38% rise on the prior year’s numbers. In addition, the rate at which these complaints were upheld jumped by 38% in the financial year to March 2024 overall, increasing from 30% across the preceding 12 months. The FOS noted that the most common complaints about insurance related to delays in payouts on claims,......

Mergers The Commission approved the transaction whereby Intermediate Capital Group plc and Corporación J. both assume joint control over Grupo J. Uriach, SLU and PAM Invest- Ineldea Santé SAS......

R (on the application of Rights Community Action Ltd) v Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities [2024] EWHC 1693 ( Admin) What are the practical implications of this case? Duty to have due regard to the EPPS This judgment bears on prospective challenges to policy choices where consideration of the EPPS occurs after the decision. One cannot simply presume that a post hoc appraisal fails to meet the requirement to have due regard; whether it does will be fact-specific, and turns on whether the appraisal was undertaken ‘in substance, with rigour and an open mind’. Local Planning Authorities’ powers to set energy efficiency standards For planning authorities intent on adopting energy performance benchmarks that exceed current building regulations, the route is to exercise the power in section 1(1)(c) of the Planning and Energy Act 2008 ( PEA 2008), often referred to as ‘the Merton rule’, and to...

Gianni's Glasgow Ltd v The Pensions Regulator [2024] UKFTT 507 ( GRC) What are the practical implications of this case? This ruling will interest specialists in the pensions regulatory arena and, more broadly, regulatory practitioners. It adds to the examples of situations where the FTT has intervened after TPR imposed penalties for auto-enrolment non-compliance. The tribunal was notably critical of TPR’s conduct, stating its approach was ‘fundamentally at odds with that of a competent regulator’. The judge’s discussion of how TPR should shape an appropriate regulatory response—considering the causation of the breach, the appellant’s actions on discovering it, and the effect on employees—offers practical guidance for those advising clients in comparable circumstances. In addition, the judge’s description of the EPN regime under section 41 of the Pensions Act 2008 ( PA 2008) as a device to encourage compliance will be relevant to...

Cofal Ltd v Pensions Regulator [2024] UKFTT 578 ( GRC) What are the practical implications of this case? It is the second occasion in three weeks that the First-tier Tribunal—specifically Tribunal Judge Hughes—has set aside penalties imposed for auto-enrolment non-compliance, and, in doing so, has explicitly taken the Pensions Regulator to task for failing to act proportionately and for misunderstanding the extent of its own powers on review (see also Gianni’s Glasgow Ltd v Pensions Regulator [2024] UKFTT 507 ( GRC), 17 June 2024). From his remarks in this matter, the judge’s view appears to be that the Regulator has lost sight of the fundamental purpose both of the regulatory framework and of its own existence: ensuring that employers fulfil substantive obligations to enrol staff into a qualifying pension scheme and to pay employer...

The Oaks ( Gatley) Ltd v HMRC [2024] UKFTT 594 ( TC) The taxpayer, The Oaks ( Gatley) Ltd ( TOGL), accepted it had not operated deductions at source on payments made to its construction services supplier, Dreamspace Construction Ltd ( Dreamspace), under the Construction Industry Scheme ( CIS). Nevertheless, Dreamspace included those sums when computing its corporation tax, so there was no overall loss to the Exchequer. Under regulation 9 of the CIS Regulations ( SI 2005/2045), an HMRC officer may direct that a contractor is not responsible for any shortfall between the tax it ought to have withheld and what it actually deducted where the sub-contractor has brought the payments into account. TOGL challenged the Determinations on public law grounds, asserting a legitimate expectation that HMRC would apply its published guidance before raising the Determinations. It said that guidance required an officer to have (i)...

Narendra Thillainathan v Mohomed Khan and others [ SC Appeal Nos 200/2018, 200A/2018, 200B/2018 & 200C/2018] Supreme Court of Sri Lanka What are the practical implications of this case? Section 27 of the Act, addressing the rectification of arbitral awards, derives from Article 33 of the UNCITRAL Model Law. Jurisprudence remains sparse on both the ambit and the process governing a tribunal’s power to correct its award. First, the Court examined whether the amendments ran counter to the tribunal’s own reasoning in the Original Award, and whether they fell outside ‘errors in computation, clerical or typographical slips, omissions, or comparable mistakes’. The Court concluded that this argument was legally misguided: the Tribunal had never dismissed the claim for the Return sought in the Statement of Claim, as asserted by the Borrowers. The failure to include the Return was, therefore, a plain omission by the...

Pan NOx Emissions Litigations [2024] EWHC 1728 ( KB) What are the practical implications of this case? The ruling distilled several central themes of costs management in extensive group proceedings, with potential read-across to other high-value disputes. It confirmed that, notwithstanding sizeable sums, the court will not allow an open chequebook approach to costs. Approach to agreed costs With the parties’ agreement, the court set budgets for items they had already settled. Strictly, that cut across CPR 3.15(1), which prevents judicial intervention in approved phases. The judges observed, however, that the court could instead decline approval entirely and require fresh budgets. Their course delivered the same practical result without direct interference. Proportionality The court stressed that every factor in CPR 44.3(5) feeds into the proportionality assessment, and it also underlined a separate test of reasonableness, namely costs ‘bearing some resemblance to the work reasonably required to properly, but...

D’ Angelin v Revenue and Customs Commissioners [2024] UKFTT 462 ( TC) What are the practical implications of this case? The judgment is notable for its treatment of value extraction and the circumstances in which BIR can be forfeited. Inflated pay or private enjoyment of corporate assets will be regarded as taking value out and thus violating the conditions for the relief. Beyond that, the ruling is valuable because it sets out firm direction on interpreting other provisions within tax statutes. The Tribunal examined the legislative purpose, drew on parliamentary materials to aid construction, and assessed whether its reading conflicted with Protocol 1 Article 1 of the European Convention on Human Rights ( Protection of Property) (the Convention). This required weighing the appellant’s ‘right not to be deprived of the money that he will have to pay by way of tax if BIR is...

Thirty-seven companies — among them South Farm Ltd and Micklefield Hall Ltd — assert in a recently unsealed High Court action that NFU Mutual has declined to cover losses said to have arisen when the government closed businesses as the pandemic gripped Britain. In the claim dated 29 May 2024, the claimants maintain they are each due a payout from the insurer for their alleged losses, amounting to roughly £9.5m for business interruption and more than £1m for claims preparation expenses. The pleading states that, in contravention of the policy terms, the defendant has unjustly turned down the claimants’ claims and failed to provide the indemnity owed to them. The claimant cohort — which spans bars, restaurants, hotels, wedding venues and camping sites — contends that each held business interruption cover with NFU Mutual at the time......