Legal News

Gunvor International BV Gunvor International BV maintained it was not liable to the vessel owner, Herculito Maritime Ltd, for US$5.9m representing its stake in the MT Polar’s cargo after Somali pirates seized the ship off East Africa in 2010. However, the Supreme Court justices, acting unanimously, affirmed the Court of Appeal’s ruling that the bills of lading did not relieve the company from contributing to losses arising from the vessel’s capture. The Supreme Court further held that a war risks clause in the charterparty did not amount to an agreement insulating Gunvor International from responsibility. Accordingly, Gunvor remained obliged to share losses caused by the capture......

In this edition: Psychiatric injury—secondary victims Public authorities and the state Occupational disease Damages Case management Costs Other PI and clinical negligence news Daily and weekly news alerts Useful information Psychiatric injury—secondary victims Supreme Court clarifies whether a person may pursue compensation for psychiatric harm after witnessing the death, or another shocking event, of a close family member caused by earlier clinical negligence. The Supreme Court has delivered judgment in Paul ( Appellants) v Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust ( Respondent); Polmear ( Appellants) v Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust ( Respondent); Purchase ( Appellant) v Ahmed ( Respondent) [2024] UKSC 1. The appeals addressed whether a claimant can recover for psychiatric injury sustained from witnessing a loved one’s death or similarly horrifying occurrence which flowed from prior negligent clinical care, in such...

In this issue: Trade in goods Sanctions and export control Customs Daily and weekly news alerts New and updated content Trade in goods DBT publishes paper on UK's first critical imports and supply chains strategy The Department for Business and Trade has released a policy paper outlining the UK’s inaugural critical imports and supply chains strategy, aimed at protecting goods vital to the UK’s economy, the delivery of essential services and national security, eg medicines and semiconductors. The strategy builds upon the government’s work to address supply chain shocks and will support UK companies to develop secure and dependable supply chains. The government will create an online portal for businesses to raise red tape or......

See also: Treasury Committee publishes summary of ‘ Sexism in the City’ engagement event, LNB News 17/01/2024 15 FCA Chief Executive Nikhil Rathi, together with colleagues, told the Treasury Committee, a cross‑party group of lawmakers, that the regulator is surveying wholesale finance firms to gather statistics on non‑financial misconduct cases—and on how such matters are spotted and resolved. Sarah Pritchard, the FCA’s director of supervision, said they are quite deliberately pressing ahead with that supervisory work programme right now, so they can use its findings to set out what constitutes best practice at the close of this exercise and, crucially, to shape their supervisory programme when the new rule sets take effect. The FCA’s industry survey spans wholesale insurance intermediaries and broking, as well as both banks and insurers. Wholesale markets link individuals and institutions seeking to invest funds with others that require them; retail...

What is the background to TPR's consultation on its new General Code? Statutory requirements and consultation process: Under the 2018 Regulations: Trustees and other governing bodies must establish and operate an effective system of governance ( ESOG). For simplicity, this article refers only to trustees. The General Code applies to all occupational pension schemes, with ESOG exemptions for public service schemes, authorised master trusts and authorised collective money purchase schemes. To this end, TPR must issue a Code of Practice covering ESOG and, for schemes with 100 or more members, related areas, including an own-risk assessment of the governance system and a remuneration policy. The General Code has been some time in development. The 2018 Regulations ( SI 2018/1103) took effect in January 2019. TPR issued a draft Code for consultation in March 2021; the consultation closed in May 2021, and an interim...

Additional developments Alongside the articles featured in full in the Financial Services news feed on 17 January 2024, subscribers may wish to note these further developments: FCA: Decision Notice: Amberley Motors Ltd FCA: Decision Notice: Fox Global Trading Limited FCA: Decision Notice: DHI International UK Limited FCA: Decision Notice: John Wallace (trading as Mia Motors) ECB: One step ahead: protecting the cyber resilience of financial infrastructures BIS: Streamlining VM processes and IM responsiveness of margin models in non-centrally cleared markets As well as our daily and weekly news alerts, Financial Services subscribers can choose intraday updates at midday and at day’s end, delivering real-time summaries of that day’s financial services developments. To receive these intraday alerts, email...

See Q& A: See Q& A: The estate included assets qualifying for agricultural property relief ( APR) and/or business property relief ( BPR), directed by the Will to be held on discretionary trust. Two years have elapsed since death and the trustees are looking to appoint property out of the trust, but are wary of exit charges. Will APR still be available on an exit if, during the two-year period, the trustees have owned/occupied the agricultural land, even though only one of the three trustees has been actively engaged in farming operations? How should the analysis then differ, where business property relief is also in point?......

HMRC v Dolphin Drilling Ltd [2024] EWCA Civ 1 The taxpayer arranged a lease of the vessel Borgsten from a related entity to fulfil a contract with Total, the operator of the Dunbar oil installation. Under that agreement, the Borgsten was deployed to support operations on the Dunbar platform while the taxpayer’s own crew worked aboard the vessel alongside Total’s personnel... Provision of water, compressed air and various chemicals to the platform Warehousing, heliport facilities and storage services On-board accommodation for approximately 50 members of Total’s workforce engaged on Dunbar HMRC took the stance that the hire cap in section 356N of the Corporation Tax Act 2010 ( CTA 2010) was engaged. The taxpayer, however, maintained that the carve-out in CTA 2010, s 356LA(3) applied, on the basis that it was reasonable to assume the Borgsten’s accommodation function for Total’s staff was ‘unlikely to be more than...

Antitrust Court of Appeal rules in favour of CMA in overseas information requests appeal The Court of Appeal delivered its decision in CMA v Bayerische Motoren Werke AG ( BMW) and Volkswagen Aktiengesellschaft ( VW). For context, in December 2022, the CMA levied a fixed fine of £30,000 and a recurring daily charge of £15,000 on BMW for not complying with an information notice served during a Chapter I investigation, conducted by the CMA then......

Antitrust Commission accepts commitments offered by Renfe regarding abuse of dominance in online rail ticketing in Spain The Commission agreed to the commitments put forward by Renfe to tackle competition issues arising from its refusal to share complete content and real-time data with competing ticketing platforms in Spain's online passenger rail ticket distribution market. In its initial assessment, the Commission found that withholding full content and real-time data could have hindered rival platforms' ability to contend with Renfe's own direct digital channels, harming consumers......

The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities ( DLUHC) has issued guidance clarifying the Building Safety Fund ( BSF) procedure. This guidance outlines the following......

TP v Administration de l’enregistrement des domaines et de la TVA, Case C‑288/22 TP served on the boards of several Luxembourg public limited companies. His remuneration for those functions was calculated by reference to a proportion of the companies’ profits. Article 9 of Directive 2006/112/ EC (the VAT Directive) states, in substance, that a person is a taxable person for VAT only where they pursue an economic activity independently. The Luxembourg tax authority maintained that TP’s board‑level duties amounted to independent economic activities caught by VAT within the meaning of Article 9 of the VAT Directive. TP contended that he was not performing an independent economic activity and that, accordingly, his services did not fall within the scope of VAT......

Bellway Homes Limited v Surgo Construction Limited [2024] EWHC 10 ( TCC) What are the practical implications of this case? In adjudications governed by the Housing Grants, Construction and Regeneration Act 1996 ( HGCRA 1996), a party is permitted to place only one dispute before the adjudicator ( HGCRA 1996, s 108(1)). Where more than one dispute is advanced, the adjudicator has no jurisdiction to proceed ( Fastrack v Morrison). This decision is the first to address whether a payee’s interim payment claim that proceeds on two alternative footings—(i) the true valuation of the works and/or (ii) entitlement to the sum applied for because no valid payment or pay less notice was served (often termed a ‘smash and grab’ claim)—should be treated as a single dispute. The court concluded that it is one dispute, with the consequence that an adjudicator has...

Redress analysis OAC said its redress analysis sets out the levels of compensation available to people who bring a claim after receiving poor advice when moving their retirement savings. The consultancy noted that someone submitting a complaint after transferring their pension because of unsuitable guidance could now be owed roughly £34,000—up from £22,000 in the last three months of 2023. However, OAC added that this year’s figure shows a ‘noticeable drop’ in redress compared with the start of 2022, when complainants might have received around £165,000. Since early 2022, redress has decreased substantially due to rising annuity rates, said Brian Nimmo at OAC. This indicates that complainants could have increasingly secured a solid guaranteed income from their [defined contribution] pot through the......

What is the background to the call for evidence? Following Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt’s Mansion House address the night before, the DWP launched the call for evidence. Issued in tandem with several other DWP publications, these materials covered a broad spread of topics affecting UK pension schemes. Their shared aim was to boost investment in UK productive finance whilst shielding members’ benefits and giving precedence to a resilient, diversified gilt market. The Chancellor characterised the proposals across the various papers as the ‘ Mansion House reforms’. The DWP placed the Response alongside further papers pertinent to DB pension schemes, including: the Autumn Statement 2023, which confirms that the Government will reduce the authorised surplus payments charge, currently payable on a return of surplus to a scheme employer, from 35% to 25% from 6 April 2024; and Call for evidence outcome: Pension trustee skills,...

RN v DA [2023] EWFC 255 What are the practical implications of this case? This judgment provides guidance on the legal framework and the factors a court will consider when deciding whether to rescind a decree nisi or grant a decree absolute in cases under the pre‑ April 2022 divorce procedure, particularly where there has been delay in making the application for decree absolute. It also serves as a reminder of the reasons a court might refuse anonymity for the parties (none of which applied in this case) and offers considerations on the granting of costs orders in applications arising from divorce, as opposed to financial remedies......

Yours Naturally Naturally Yours Ltd v Kate Mc Iver Skin Ltd and another [2023] EWCA Civ 1493 What are the practical implications of this case? This appeal concerned a conventional—albeit factually intricate—dispute over passing off and copyright infringement. Grant of permission by the Court of Appeal was somewhat unexpected; nevertheless, when granting permission the court encouraged the parties to mediate, an invitation that went unheeded. Of practical significance was the Court of Appeal’s treatment of the parties’ pleaded cases. Practitioners should take care that pleadings mirror the client’s position as ultimately presented at trial. In this instance, several shortcomings emerged. First, goodwill in particular features of the product was not expressly pleaded. Although a trial judge can, in some situations, infer goodwill from the broader evidential context, that approach cannot be assumed to apply across all passing off claims. Second, the judgment...

The Environment Agency has announced that it has blocked access to an apparent illegal waste site in Ashford, Kent, to prevent further alleged illegal tipping the authority stated......

According to the study issued on 16 January 2024 by the Confused.com car insurance price index and insurance broker WTW, the rise was labelled an ‘extraordinary’ jump. Tim Rourke, UK head of pricing, product, claims and underwriting at WTW, said the cost of motor cover rocketed in 2023 chiefly because used car prices surged, though there are signs of a market correction as values have fallen over the last four months. He added that insurers have had to reflect higher costs for spare parts and materials, pricier repairs as vehicles become more advanced, labour shortages, and longer vehicle hire periods. The research shows insurance premiums have climbed in every region of the UK over the past year, according to the latest published findings......

At Southwark Crown Court, Judge David Tomlinson stated he will hand down a suspended custodial sentence to Kamlesh Vaghjiani in two months’ time, after the former pharmaceutical entrepreneur admitted falsifying data provided to the regulator during the licensing of a thyroid medicine. Prosecutors said Vaghjiani, 55, exaggerated the shelf-life of Evotrox — marketed by Kappin Ltd, the company he controlled — to obtain permission from the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency to market three versions of the drug in 2006. Tomlinson J also ordered Kappin to pay the fine, as the company had exploited the misleading information to become the first to sell a liquid form of the thyroid treatment. The company was given 28 days to pay. Tomlinson J added that he would levy a 'substantial' fine on Vaghjiani. The recommended sentence and confiscation order were agreed between the defendant and...