Commercial Litigation UK

  • September 04, 2025

    ECJ Says Experts Not Needed To Weigh Design Rights In Lego

    Europe's highest court ruled Thursday that the question over whether a product infringes on design rights doesn't need to be answered by a technical expert, saying an informed user should be able to make the call in a dispute over protections for Lego pieces.  

  • September 04, 2025

    Fintech Exec Proves Redundancy Was Unfair

    A London tribunal has ruled that a fintech company unfairly dismissed an executive after delays in its redundancy process meant he missed the chance to apply for an alternative role.

  • September 04, 2025

    Crane Co. Can Deduct VAT On Intragroup Payments, ECJ Says

    A Romanian crane company can claim deductions for value-added tax on intragroup payments because the services provided were genuine, the European Union's top court ruled Thursday.

  • September 04, 2025

    Ex-FCA Supervisor Says Tribunal Denied Him Fair Trial

    A former supervisor at the City watchdog argued at an appellate tribunal in London on Thursday that his unfair dismissal claim against the regulator did not receive a fair hearing, saying that a lower court had made factual errors in its judgment in the case.

  • September 04, 2025

    Poland Must Pay Commission €8M For Copyright Failings

    The European Union's highest court ordered Poland on Thursday to pay the European Commission €8.3 million ($11.1 million) alongside daily fines for adopting the bloc's copyright law reforms three years after the deadline had passed.

  • September 04, 2025

    Family Can Pursue Intimidation Case Against Scottish Estate

    A family can pursue their employment claim alleging that they experienced intimidation and were secretly filmed while working for a Scottish estate, as a tribunal refused to toss the case after it concluded it is too early to say whether the allegations will fail.

  • September 04, 2025

    Top EU Court Says Pseudonymized Data Is Still Personal

    The highest court of the European Union ruled Thursday that comments submitted by shareholders and creditors of a collapsed Spanish bank during an investigation following the sale of the lender could be treated as personal data even though they had been pseudonymized.

  • September 04, 2025

    Energy Giant OMV Gets Hygiene Biz's TM Nixed On Appeal

    Austrian energy major OMV has persuaded a European Union court to nix an identical mark of its name, overturning an earlier ruling that the reputation of its brand in the oil sector did not overlap with the other company's feminine hygiene products.

  • September 04, 2025

    Nissan Cartel Loss Claim Not Time-Barred, ECJ Rules

    The European Union's top court ruled Thursday that time limits had not expired for the buyer of a Nissan vehicle who is ringing a damages claim against the carmaker for anticompetitive conduct.

  • September 04, 2025

    Casting Directory Beats Union's Claim Over Listing Fees

    A union's challenge to a casting directory over the listing fees it charges actors has been rejected by a London court, which has ruled that restrictions on levies for work-finding services do not apply because the directory isn't an employment agency.

  • September 04, 2025

    Lessor Demands African Airline Returns $10M Aircraft, Engines

    An aircraft lessor has alleged that the flag-carrier of Mozambique is refusing to return an aircraft and two engines worth more than $10.3 million after the airline fell behind in rent payments in 2023.

  • September 03, 2025

    Taylor Wimpey Sues Ardmore For £40M Over Fire Defects

    U.K. housing giant Taylor Wimpey UK Ltd. has sued construction group Ardmore for £40 million ($53.8 million), saying it failed to fix "numerous" fire safety problems in 72 London homes it built.

  • September 03, 2025

    Employment Bill Advances As Lords Pass Baton To Commons

    The U.K. government's flagship Employment Rights Bill moved one step closer to enactment on Wednesday as peers handed their amended version of the reforms back to MPs for consideration.

  • September 03, 2025

    Warner Bros. Beats German Production Co.'s 'W&B' TM

    Warner Bros. convinced a European Union court on Wednesday to nix a German production company's trademark application for "W&B TV," after proving that the public would mix up the sign with its shield logo.

  • September 03, 2025

    Waste Co. Challenges CMA Over Search Warrant Details

    A waste management company asked the Competition Appeal Tribunal on Wednesday to disclose information that led to the execution of search warrants in a regulatory investigation into the business over potential collusion with rivals.

  • September 03, 2025

    Balfour Beatty Accused Of Avoiding £18M Fire Safety Liability

    The U.K.'s largest student accommodation business has countered Balfour Beatty's bid to claw back almost £17.7 million ($24 million) it paid to remove combustible insulation, accusing the construction giant of trying to "escape the consequences" of its failings.

  • September 03, 2025

    Investors Lose Bid For Pension Orders In AI Bike Fraud Case

    Investors seeking to enforce a fraud judgment against the founders of an AI-driven exercise bike company suffered a setback Wednesday, when a London judge declined to finalize interim debt orders against the founders' pensions.

  • September 03, 2025

    Council Loses Bid To Recover £20M Pension Investment Loss

    An English council on Wednesday lost its bid to wind up a failed Luxembourg-based fund to recover a £20 million ($27 million) pension investment, with a London appeals court ruling the entity was not a company for the purposes of insolvency legislation.

  • September 10, 2025

    Pinsent Masons Expands M&A Team With 3 EY Partners

    Pinsent Masons said Wednesday that it has hired three new partners and five other lawyers from EY Law for its corporate team in Manchester as it prepares to move to a new office in the city.

  • September 02, 2025

    Hotel Liquidators Claim Debtor Hid Shares To Evade Creditors

    The liquidators of a hotel company are asking the High Court to find that property mogul Andrew Ruhan has concocted a "secret relationship" with a junior employee to put his assets out of reach of creditors.

  • September 02, 2025

    Goldman Seeks To Limit Ex-Manager's Sex Bias Award Payout

    Goldman Sachs sought on Tuesday to reduce a former compliance manager's payout after it unfairly dismissed him while he was on paternity leave, arguing at a London employment tribunal that it might have dismissed him in any event. 

  • September 02, 2025

    Mishcon Ex-Partner's Whistleblowing Claim Struck Out

    Mishcon de Reya is not on the hook for a former partner's whistleblowing claim because the Singapore-based lawyer cannot bring his claim under British employment law, a London tribunal ruled in a decision released on Tuesday.

  • September 02, 2025

    Textor Cites Missing Docs To Fight $93M Share Buyout Claim

    The owner of a portfolio of professional football clubs told a London court he wasn't obliged to pay $93.6 million for an investment vehicle's stake in his company, arguing that it failed to provide documents needed for the transaction.

  • September 09, 2025

    Keoghs Hires 4 New Partners From Clyde & Co.

    Insurance specialist Keoghs LLP said Tuesday that it has snapped up four new partners from Clyde & Co. LLP to boost its legal services to clients from its offices in Scotland and Northern Ireland.

  • September 02, 2025

    Cleaning Co. Must Pay £30K For Firing Worker Without Probe

    An employment tribunal has ordered a security and cleaning services business to pay £29,706 ($39,700) to a former security officer it had accused of falsifying his contract to take extra holidays, after it failed to interview a key witness.

Expert Analysis

  • Opinion

    PACCAR Should Be 1st Step To Regulating Litigation Funders

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    Rather than reversing the U.K. Supreme Court's well-reasoned judgment in PACCAR v. Competition Appeal Tribunal, imposing a regulatory regime on litigation funders in parity with that of lawyers, legislators should build upon it to create a more transparent, competitive and fairer funding industry, says Rosa Curling at Foxglove.

  • Patent Plausibility Uncertainty Persists, EPO Petition Shows

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    While a recent petition for review at the European Patent Office — maintaining that the Board of Appeal misapplied the Enlarged Board of Appeal's order on whether a patent is "plausible" — highlights the continued uncertainty surrounding the plausibility concept, the outcome could provide useful guidance on the interpretation of orders, say lawyers at Finnegan.

  • In Int'l Arbitration Agreements, Be Clear About Governing Law

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    A trilogy of recent cases in the English High Court and Court of Appeal highlight the importance of parties agreeing to explicit choice of law language at the outset of an arbitration agreement in order to avoid costly legal skirmishes down the road, say lawyers at Faegre Drinker.

  • Risks The Judiciary Needs To Be Aware Of When Using AI

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    Recently published judiciary service guidance aims to temper reliance on AI by court staff in their work, and with ever-increasing and evolving technology, such tools should be used for supplementary assistance rather than as a replacement for already existing judicial research tools, says Philip Sewell at Shepherd & Wedderburn.

  • Post Office Scandal Stresses Key Directors Duties Lessons

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    The Post Office scandal, involving hundreds of wrongful convictions of subpostmasters based on an IT failure, offers lessons for company directors on the magnitude of the impact that a failure to fulfill their duties can have on employees and the company, says Simon Goldberg at Simons Muirhead.

  • Employer Tips For Handling Data Subject Access Requests

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    As employers face numerous employee data-subject access requests — and the attendant risks of complaints to the Information Commissioner's Office — issues such as managing deadlines and sifting through data make compliance more difficult, highlighting the importance of efficient internal processes and clear communication when responding to a request, say Gwynneth Tan and Amy Leech at Shoosmiths.

  • Top Court Hire Car Ruling Affects 3rd-Party Negligence Cases

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    The U.K. Supreme Court's recent decision in Armstead v. Royal & Sun Alliance, finding that an insurer was responsible for lost car rental income after an accident, has significant implications for arguing economic loss and determining burden of proof in third-party negligence cases that trigger contractual liabilities, say lawyers at Macfarlanes.

  • Bribery Class Action Ruling May Revive Bifurcated Processes

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    The Court of Appeal's recent decision allowing the representative bribery action in Commission Recovery v. Marks & Clerk offers renewed hope for claimants to advance class claims using a bifurcated process amid its general absence as of late, say Jon Gale and Justin Browne at Ashurst.

  • Ocado Appeal Outcome Will Gauge UPC Transparency

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    As the sole Unified Patent Court case concerning third-party requests for court records, the forthcoming appeal decision in Ocado v. Autostore will hopefully set out a clear and consistent way to handle reasoned requests, as access to nonconfidential documents will surely lead to more efficient conduct of proceedings, says Tom Brazier at EIP.

  • The Good, The Bad And The New Of The UK Sanctions Regime

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    Almost six years after the Sanctions and Money Laundering Act was introduced, the U.K. government has published a strategy paper that outlines its focus points and unveils potential changes to the regime, such as a new humanitarian exception for financial sanctions, highlighting the rapid transformation of the U.K. sanctions landscape, says Josef Rybacki at WilmerHale.

  • Unpacking The Building Safety Act's Industry Overhaul

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    Recent updates to the Building Safety Act introduce a new principal designer role and longer limitation periods for defects claims, ushering in new compliance challenges for construction industry stakeholders to navigate, as well as a need to affirm that their insurance arrangements provide adequate protection, say Zoe Eastell and Zack Gould-Wilson at RPC.

  • Prompt Engineering Skills Are Changing The Legal Profession

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    With a focus on higher-value work as repetitive tasks are delegated to artificial intelligence, legal roles are set to become more inspiring, and lawyers need not fear the rising demand for prompt engineers that is altering the technology-enabled legal environment, say Eric Crawley, Shah Karim and Paul O’Hagan at Epiq Legal.

  • Opinion

    UK Whistleblowers Flock To The US For Good Reason

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    The U.K. Serious Fraud Office director recently brought renewed attention to the differences between the U.K. and U.S. whistleblower regimes — differences that may make reporting to U.S. agencies a better and safer option for U.K. whistleblowers, and show why U.K. whistleblower laws need to be improved, say Benjamin Calitri and Kate Reeves at Kohn Kohn.

  • 4 Legal Privilege Lessons From Dechert Disclosure Ruling

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    The Court of Appeal's recent decision in Al Sadeq v. Dechert LLP, finding that evidence may have been incorrectly withheld, provides welcome clarification of the scope of legal professional privilege, including the application of the iniquity exception, says Tim Knight at Travers Smith.

  • BT Case May Shape UK Class Action Landscape

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    The first opt-out collective action trial commenced in Le Patourel v. BT in the U.K. Competition Appeal Tribunal last month, regarding BT's abuse of dominance by overcharging millions of customers, will likely provide clarification on damages and funder returns in collective actions, which could significantly affect the class action regime, say lawyers at RPC.

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