Legal News

LCP stated on 9 April 2024 that the aggregated pensions surplus across the UK schemes of FTSE100 firms is currently around £60bn. This robust financial position has prompted more schemes to consider continuing to operate rather than concluding, LCP noted. However, it did not reveal how many are assessing this route. Jonathan Griffith, partner and head of endgame innovation at LCP, said funding levels were again very strong as the quarter closed, underlining strength in overall finances......

Wordsworth Construction Management Ltd v Inivos Ltd t/a Health Spaces [2024] EWHC 617 ( TCC) What are the practical implications of this case? This judgment is another on common issues raised in relation to adjudication enforcement, while the court’s analysis draws some notable distinctions in its reasoning. The threshold for a successful natural justice breach in adjudication remains exacting; even a potential mistake of law will not suffice where the adjudicator has addressed the pertinent issues (however briefly) and provided reasons in the decision. Regarding serial adjudications, the court also appears to have traced a delicate boundary between deciding an issue tied to the same facts and making a decision on the same claim in two adjudications, and practitioners may need to weigh this distinction carefully when interpreting/applying the Sudlows v Global Switch decision. What was the background? The dispute concerned two...

In addition to the stories covered in full in the Financial Services news feed on 10 April 2024 Subscribers might also wish to note the following further developments: FCA issues a Decision Notice concerning Mr Kenneth Shuttleworth The ESAs open their first recruitments......

The Future Ireland Fund and the Infrastructure, Climate and Nature Fund would safeguard the nation’s public finances amid continuing pressures on public spending and possible future economic slowdowns, according to Finance Minister Michael Mc Grath in a 4 April 2024 official press statement unveiling the proposed legislation. The measure was formally introduced in Dáil Éireann......

The EU’s General Court has overturned sanctions on the businessmen, striking their names from the list of designated individuals and ordering their delisting after their funds and assets had been frozen in the wake of the Russian attack in 2022. In its reasoning, the court stated that none of the grounds set out in the initial acts was sufficiently evidenced, so the inclusion of Mr Aven and Mr Fridman on the contested lists was not warranted. The judges held that, although there is material indicating the men maintained links with Putin and his entourage, the European Council, which made the designations, did not prove they supported Kremlin policies or the war, or that they offered any support or assistance to Moscow......

On 9 April 2024, XPS Pensions argued it was unreasonable to expect taxpayers — most of whom are in defined contribution schemes — to shoulder the risk for members enjoying far more generous final salary-style benefits. The firm issued this warning as the Department for Work and Pensions ( DWP) considers allowing the PPF to absorb otherwise financially sound pension schemes that cannot secure an insurance buyout of their liabilities. Paul Cuff, chief executive of XPS, said it was extraordinary to suggest UK taxpayers should underwrite risk within a PPF-run consolidator......

Re T ( Adoption Hearing: Involvement of Applicants) [2024] EWCA Civ 189, [2024] All ER ( D) 88 ( Mar) What are the practical implications of this case? This decision confirms that the ‘ President’s Guidance: Listing Final Hearings in Adoption cases’ dated 10 April 2018 (the guidance) is incorrect at paragraph 19, which suggests that, where a direction says the applicant or the child need not attend the final hearing, the order and any hearing notice must expressly and clearly state that the applicant or the child should not attend the final hearing. The President of the Family Division, Sir Andrew Mc Farlane, asked Mrs Justice Judd, chair of the Public Law Working Group, to undertake a review of that guidance. In Re T ( Adoption Hearing: Involvement of Applicants) [2024] EWCA Civ 189, [2024] All ER ( D) 88 ( Mar), Mc...

See Q& A: A is named executor of T’s estate, but dies before the administration is fully finalised. In A’s Will, B is appointed as A’s executor. When, if at all, may B take over the administration of T’s estate? Section 7 of the Administration of Estates Act 1925 provides that an executor who proves their testator’s Will thereby becomes executor of any Will for which that testator was the sole or last surviving proving executor then. This chain of representation continues in perpetuity thereafter......

On 8 April 2024, the Competition Appeal Tribunal allowed Apple to contest the tribunal's March 2024 decision granting Justin Gutmann permission to bring proceedings against the technology giant on behalf of 24 million i Phone users in the UK. That permission had been granted following a reworked litigation funding arrangement, which the tribunal said successfully bypassed obstacles created by the UK Supreme Court's surprise July 2023 ruling in Paccar itself. In Paccar, the Supreme Court barred opt-out claims from using litigation funding agreements that seek to recover their costs by taking a percentage of the damages. The far-reaching judgment upended multiple class actions at the tribunal, and several ongoing challenges to funding agreements are already pending before the Court of Appeal even as the government has introduced legislation that would undo Paccar entirely......

WTGIL Ltd v HMRC [2024] UKUT 77 ( TCC) The taxpayer acted as the representative member of a VAT group. Among the group companies, Ingenie Services Ltd ( ISL) delivered car insurance intermediary services to young drivers under contractual terms, during which ISL incurred VAT-bearing costs connected to the installation of telematics devices in vehicles. These devices, commonly called ‘black boxes’, record how cars are driven so that insurers can use the data to adjust the premiums they charge. It was accepted by both sides that ISL’s ability to recover VAT on those costs depended on the costs being attributable to a taxable supply for consideration. Ownership of each device remained with ISL until the associated insurance policy expired or was cancelled; at that point, title to the device transferred to the policyholder. The Upper Tribunal determined that the arrangement did not give rise to a...

Mergers The CMA has set out the administrative timetable for its phase 2 investigation into T& L Sugars/ Tereos—see the case page. For details of all live mergers before the CMA, refer to the UK mergers—ongoing cases tracker. Upcoming dates: for timings of forthcoming UK competition developments, see the UK Competition calendar......

What are the practical implications of this case? From a purchaser’s perspective, the decision emphasises qualifying tenants’ statutory right of first refusal under LTA 1987 when a landlord proposes to dispose of its reversionary interest in a block of flats in question. Where LTA 1987 applies, the landlord is prohibited from transferring any estate or interest in the property unless it first serves a s 5 notice offering the reversionary interest to the qualifying tenants on the same terms as offered. A landlord who omits this step may commit a criminal offence, and there are significant consequences for the buyer as well in practice. Under s 12B(2), more than 50% of the qualifying tenants of the constituent flats can serve a purchase notice on the buyer, requiring the buyer to pass to the tenants’ nominee the estate or interest that formed the...

State aid General Court annuls Commission decision on Danish waste water treatment pricing The General Court delivered its ruling in Case T‑486/18 RENV, Danske Slagtermestre v Commission, on an appeal challenging the Commission’s decision in State aid Case SA.37433— Denmark, concerning alleged State aid arising from rebates on waste water charges. The proceedings were remitted to the General Court following the Court of Justice’s judgment in Case C‑99/21. For context, in 2013 Denmark passed legislation introducing a lower rate per cubic metre once a certain volume of waste water had been discharged, which resulted in diminished payments for the largest users of water services (the 2013 Law). Danske Slagtermestre, a trade association, submitted a complaint to the Commission contending that the 2013 Law bestowed State aid on major slaughterhouses by reducing their contributions for waste water treatment. It concerned waste water treatment pricing,...

On 4 April 2024, XPS Pensions Group reported that the figure, broadly unchanged from the prior month, reflects aggregate assets of £1,454bn against liabilities of £1,303bn. The consultancy described this as an 'extremely positive' position, with workplace pension arrangements typically standing at 112% of liabilities as at 27 March 2024. ' Overall pension scheme surpluses remain close to record highs, as highlighted last month, supported by robust asset returns across credit spreads and equities,' noted Felix Currell, senior investment consultant at XPS. This maintains the robust position seen in previous update......

TCPC Management Ltd v Windrush Alliance UK Community Interest Company [2024] EWHC 683 ( Ch) What are the practical implications of this case? The ruling confirms that, once parties have concluded a settlement agreement, the liability identified in that document is the figure that grounds a winding-up petition (and any earlier statutory demand). There remains the scope for such an agreement to be avoided for fraud, or voidable on other recognised bases. Yet this judgment demonstrates—consistent with many before it—that merely flagging a potential dispute is inadequate. Two points were pursued: Fraud: the evidential footing came perilously close to Micawberism—little more than the hopeful expectation that something might turn up. Regulatory limits: the suggestion that the company’s role as a social housing provider imposed constraints also fell away on a straightforward interpretation of the Companies Act 2006. In consequence, the court treated the sum in the...

The yet unrectified problems, dating back to 2022, concern data provided by the telephone network provider Telefonica UK Ltd, trading as O2 UK. This piece examines the role of computer-produced evidence in criminal cases within criminal proceedings, the structural problems linked to its present deployment, and why the defence must be able to challenge the soundness of such data. Although the continuing Post Office Horizon IT Inquiry has prompted much-needed scrutiny and overdue examination of the trust placed in computer-derived material and the assumption that all of it is reliable, the UK government Home Office investigation has underscored the further clear need to question the supposed reliability of computer-based systems. In 1999, the UK Law Commission advised repealing section 69 of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984, a proposal that was later implemented. When that reform took effect in 2000, it...

Alongside the articles reported in detail within the Financial Services news feed on 9 April 2024, subscribers might be keen to note the following key further updates: ISDA: Building Smart Contracts ESMA publishes first overview of EU securities......

Staveley v Restis [2024] EWHC 670 ( Ch) What are the practical implications of this case? This decision offers a timely illustration of the court’s approach to applications to set aside a statutory demand. Although it is enough to establish a dispute on substantial grounds, that does not mean any merely arguable point will do. Rather, as this ruling shows, the evidential material put forward to support the alleged dispute will be tested with care. In the face of contemporaneous records, the court may find that account inherently unlikely. The judgment also underlines that, while arbitration clauses are generally upheld in insolvency proceedings, a respondent may contend that the clause no longer subsists. A later agreement revising lending terms can, where it includes an entire agreement provision, achieve that result. What was the background? The application related to a statutory demand seeking...

Drelle v Servis- Terminal LLC [2024] EWHC 521 ( Ch), [2024] All ER ( D) 54 ( Mar) What are the practical implications of this case? This ruling clarifies that, for the purposes of section 267 of the Insolvency Act 1986 ( IA 1986), a foreign judgment amounts to a “debt”. In consequence, a creditor can deploy such a judgment to lodge a bankruptcy petition in the court, offering a distinct enforcement pathway as an alternative to seeking registration/recognition and then enforcing. However, a bona fide dispute on substantial grounds will be found—so the petition fails—if the foreign judgment is vulnerable to impeachment for fraud, conflicts with public policy, or is inconsistent with natural justice; those circumstances may arise, for example, where there has been judicial bias and/or improper interference. Accordingly, practitioners should assess with care, when instructed by a judgment creditor holding a foreign...

See Q& A: What CDD challenges could remote working present? If your practice falls within the Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and Transfer of Funds ( Information on the Payer) Regulations 2017 ( MLR 2017), SI 2017/692, as amended, you are required to meet the statutory requirements at all times, regardless of how or where you work. The coronavirus ( COVID-19) pandemic prompted a widespread move to remote working and has remained widely adopted since; nonetheless, establishing who your client is and verifying their identity remains crucial and central to client due diligence ( CDD). Offenders did not stop during the pandemic, and some attempted to exploit the circumstances; indeed, some sought to take advantage of the situation. With remote and hybrid patterns continuing beyond that period, many of the CDD issues first considered then are still pertinent, as criminals continue to seek...