Commercial Litigation UK

  • July 14, 2025

    Wealth Manager Sues For £4.5M Over Failed Investment Deal

    A Swiss wealth manager has sued a U.K. company for 5 million Swiss francs ($6.3 million), saying that it failed to return its investment after a share purchase deal went sideways.

  • July 14, 2025

    Holiday Club To Pay Worker £37K After 'Scandalous' Conduct

    A former site manager at a holiday park in southeast England has won almost £37,000 ($50,000) in compensation after an employment tribunal chastised its owner for what it called among the "most egregious" examples of unreasonable litigation conduct.

  • July 14, 2025

    Deezer Sues For €12M Over Hacked Data Sold On Dark Web

    Deezer has hit a marketing software business with a claim of almost €12 million ($14 million) at a London court, alleging that the technology company negligently handled users' data that was eventually hacked and sold on the dark web.

  • July 11, 2025

    Court Says Olympic Runner Treated Unfairly In Testing Appeal

    South African Olympic gold medal-winning runner Caster Semenya was deprived of her right to a fair hearing by a Swiss federal court when she appealed testosterone limits imposed on female athletes by track and field's international governing body, the European Court of Human Rights has ruled.

  • July 11, 2025

    Moderna Fights Pfizer's 'Impossible' MRNA Patent Attack

    Moderna on Friday lambasted Pfizer and BioNTech's argument that a patent claim underpinning its mRNA technology was obvious, arguing that its rivals were asking an appeal court to undertake an essentially "impossible" task of upending the entirety of a lower court's reasoning on the matter.

  • July 11, 2025

    Celebs Cannot Use Pattern To Prove Mail Claims, Judge Says

    A London judge ruled Friday that celebrities suing the publisher of the U.K.'s Daily Mail newspaper for allegedly gathering information about them through unlawful methods cannot prove their individual claims by showing the company's journalists used those methods habitually.

  • July 11, 2025

    Entrepreneur Sues Rights Advocate Over $1B Corruption Claim

    The owner of a green economy investment company has alleged that a human rights advocate defamed the owner in an article that claimed he used his companies to embezzle more than $1 billion into offshore accounts and had bribed high-profile U.S. officials.

  • July 11, 2025

    Brand Owner Says Violated Licensee Agreement Is Now Void

    The owner of the Rockfish Weatherwear shoe brand has claimed it is no longer obliged to license its trademarks to a Chinese brand management company because of an "irremediable breach" on the company's part after threatening to sue Rockfish's parent company without informing it.

  • July 11, 2025

    Deceased Financiers' Assets Tapped To Cover Thai Bank Debt

    The liquidators of a collapsed Thai lender can be paid from the English assets of two deceased financiers convicted over an embezzlement scheme, after a judge held Friday the funds can go to partially cover a judgment debt totaling £60 million ($81 million).

  • July 11, 2025

    Wise Payments' TM Infringement Case Largely Backfires

    Wise Payments has partly succeeded in its infringement claims against With Wise, but its rival has managed to narrow down the scope of goods it can market with "Wise" after a London judge found it never intended to sell them.

  • July 11, 2025

    Ex-CFO Can't Dodge Toymaker's £288K Costs

    A judge ruled Friday that a toymaker's former chief financial officer must pay nearly £290,000 ($391,772) in costs or face the collapse of his claim against the company, after he failed to follow court orders and continued to bring "vexatious" claims.

  • July 11, 2025

    UK Litigation Roundup: Here's What You Missed In London

    This past week in London has seen HS2 hit with a defamation claim by two ex-employees who blew the whistle on alleged under-reporting of costs, Craig Wright and nChain face legal action brought by its former chief financial officer over a fraud scheme, and pro-footballer Axel Tuanzebe bring a clinical negligence claim against his former club Manchester United F.C. Here, Law360 looks at these and other new claims in the U.K.

  • July 11, 2025

    Student Letting Agency Claims Theft Of Copyrighted Photos

    A student flat letting agency has accused a rival and its director of stealing and watermarking its own copyrighted images to advertise apartments in Leicester, which he later allegedly admitted to in a recorded call.

  • July 11, 2025

    Royal Mail To Pay £13K For Neglecting Worker's Career Plan

    A Royal Mail staffer has won more than £13,000 ($18,000) in her Employment Tribunal case against the company after a judge concluded that a boss failed to help her professional development because she sued the business 10 years earlier.

  • July 11, 2025

    Ex-Insurance CEO's Wife Can't Ax £15M Asset Freeze

    A London appeals court upheld a £15 million ($20.3 million) asset freeze on Friday against the wife of a former insurance company executive who is accused of cashing in on money her husband siphoned off from the business.

  • July 11, 2025

    Staley Tribunal Decision Could Fuel Challenges To FCA Fines

    A landmark tribunal ruling that upheld the Financial Conduct Authority's ban of ex-Barclays CEO James "Jes" Staley from banking — but slashed his fine — could ultimately lead other executives with back-loaded pay packages to fight the watchdog's decisions, lawyers say.

  • July 11, 2025

    Phones4u Can't Revive Collusion Case Against UK Networks

    The Court of Appeal dismissed Phones 4u's claims Friday that the U.K.'s biggest phone operators colluded to drive the retailer out of business, upholding findings that there was no evidence of anticompetitive behavior between the networks.

  • July 10, 2025

    Pfizer Takes Aim At Moderna's Leftover MRNA Protections

    Pfizer asked an appeals court Thursday to revoke surplus patent protections underpinning rival Moderna's mRNA vaccine after getting a key patent tossed.

  • July 10, 2025

    Buyer Contests Ruling On $1.85M Award In Botched Ship Sale

    A shipping company told the Court of Appeal on Thursday that it should be entitled to a $1.85 million award arising from the botched purchase of a vessel, arguing it is owed damages for prospective losses.

  • July 10, 2025

    Ex-Union Official Argues Bias Risk Misjudged In Appeal

    A former trade union official argued Thursday that a decision ruling his expulsion was fair incorrectly considered whether there was a risk that the chair of a disciplinary panel was biased against him, rather than whether there was a risk of "the possibility of bias."

  • July 10, 2025

    Rusal Can Serve Claim On Abramovich Via Oligarch's Lawyers

    A London judge on Thursday approved Russian aluminum giant Rusal to serve a claim on Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich via his lawyers over alleged breaches of an agreement setting out the governance of a Russian mining company.

  • July 10, 2025

    Housing Co. Blames £29M Loss On Flawed Project Pricing

    A housing association has alleged that a construction consultancy owes it £28.8 million ($39 million) after providing significantly underpriced estimates for the building costs of a London property development that shouldn't have gone ahead.

  • July 10, 2025

    Firm Denies Giving Ex-Pandora Chief Negligent Tax Advice

    A law firm has denied giving former Pandora boss Peter Andersen negligent tax advice that saddled him and the jeweler with a £3.3 million ($4.5 million) tax bill because of Andersen's pension trust.

  • July 10, 2025

    BMW Unfairly Fired Worker Accused Of Faking Back Pain

    BMW's decision to sack a factory worker accused of faking his back condition to claim sick pay was unfair and discriminatory, an employment tribunal has ruled.

  • July 09, 2025

    Human Rights Court Denounces Russia's Actions In Ukraine

    The European Court of Human Rights unanimously held on Wednesday that Russia is accountable for "widespread and flagrant" abuses of human rights arising from the conflict in Ukraine since 2014, including the downing of flight MH17 over eastern Ukraine that July.

Expert Analysis

  • Russia Ruling Shows UK's Robust Jurisdiction Approach

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    An English High Court's recent decision to grant an anti-suit injunction in the Russia-related dispute Renaissance Securities v. Chlodwig Enterprises clearly illustrates that obtaining an injunction will likely be more straightforward when the seat is in England compared to when it is abroad, say lawyers at Linklaters.

  • EU Rejection Of Booking.com Deal Veers From Past Practice

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    The European Commission's recent prohibition of Booking's purchase of Etraveli based on ecosystem theories of harm reveals a lower bar for prohibiting nonhorizontal mergers, and may mean increased merger scrutiny for companies with entrenched market positions in digital markets, say lawyers at Linklaters.

  • PPI Ruling Spells Trouble For Financial Services Firms

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    The Supreme Court's recent decision in Canada Square v. Potter, which found that the claimant's missold payment protection insurance claim was not time-barred, is bad news for affected financial services firms, as there is now certainty over the law on the postponement of limitation periods, rendering hidden commission claims viable, say Ian Skinner and Chris Webber at Squire Patton.

  • UPC Decision Highlights Key Security Costs Questions

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    While the Unified Patent Court recently ordered NanoString to pay €300,000 as security for Harvard's legal costs in a revocation action dispute, the decision highlights that the outcome of a security for costs application will be highly fact-dependent and that respondents should prepare to set out their financial position in detail, says Tom Brazier at EIP.

  • Extradition Ruling Hints At Ways Around High Burden Of Proof

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    The U.K. Supreme Court's recent ruling in Popoviciu v. Curtea De Apel Bucharest confirmed that, in a conviction extradition case, the requested person must establish a flagrant violation of their right to a fair trial, but the court's reasoning reveals creative opportunities to test this boundary in the U.K. and Strasbourg alike, says Rebecca Hughes at Corker Binning.

  • IP Ruling Could Pave Way For AI Patents In UK

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    If implemented by the U.K. Intellectual Property Office, the High Court's recent ruling in Emotional Perception AI v. Comptroller-General of Patents, holding that artificial neural networks can be patented, could be a first step to welcoming AI patents in the U.K., say Arnie Francis and Alexandra Brodie at Gowling.

  • UK Review May Lead To Lower Investment Screening Burden

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    The government’s current review of national security investment screening rules aims to refine the scope of mandatory notifications required for unproblematic deals, and is likely to result in much-needed modifications to minimize the administrative burden on businesses and investors, say lawyers at Simpson Thacher.

  • What Prince Harry Privacy Case May Mean For Media Ethics

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    An English High Court recently allowed the privacy case brought by Prince Harry and six other claimants against the Daily Mail publisher to proceed, which, if successful, could embolden other high-profile individuals to bring claims and lead to renewed calls for a judicial public inquiry into British press ethics, says Philippa Dempster at Freeths.

  • How European Authorities Are Foiling Anti-Competitive Hiring

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    Lawyers at Squire Patton discuss key labor practice antitrust concerns and notable regulation trends in several European countries following recent enforcement actions brought by the European Commission and U.K. Competition and Markets Authority.

  • When Can Bonuses Be Clawed Back?

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    The High Court's recent decision in Steel v. Spencer should remind employees that the contractual conditions surrounding bonuses and the timing of any resignation must be carefully considered, as in certain circumstances, bonuses can and are being successfully clawed back by employers, say Merrill April and Rachael Parker at CM Murray.

  • The State Of UK Litigation Funding After Therium Ruling

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    The recent English High Court decision in Therium v. Bugsby Property has provided a glimmer of hope for litigation funders about how courts will interpret this summer's U.K. Supreme Court ruling that called funding agreements impermissible, suggesting that its adverse effects may be mitigated, says Daniel Williams at DWF Law.

  • Trial By AI Could Be Closer Than You Think

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    In a known first for the U.K., a Court of Appeal justice recently admitted to using ChatGPT to write part of a judgment, highlighting how AI could make the legal system more efficient and enable the judicial process to record more accurate and fair decisions, say Charles Kuhn and Neide Lemos at Clyde & Co.

  • Why It's Urgent For Pharma Cos. To Halt Counterfeit Meds

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    With over 10.5 million counterfeit medicines seized in the EU in 2023, it is vital both ethically and commercially that pharmaceutical companies take steps to protect against such infringements, including by invoking intellectual property rights protection, says Lars Karnøe at Potter Clarkson.

  • Nix Of $11B Award Shows Limits Of Arbitral Process

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    A recent English High Court decision in Nigeria v. Process & Industrial Developments, overturning an arbitration award because it was obtained by fraud, is a reminder that arbitration decisions are ultimately still accountable to the courts, and that the relative simplicity of the arbitration rules is not necessarily always a benefit, say Robin Henry and Abbie Coleman at Collyer Bristow.

  • How The Netherlands Became A Hub For EU Class Actions

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    As countries continue to implement the European Union Collective Redress Directive, the Netherlands — the country with the largest class action docket in the EU — provides a real-world example of what class and mass litigation may eventually look like in the bloc, say lawyers at Faegre Drinker and Houthoff.

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