Compact Contract

A brief look at topical issues in contract

18 June 2018 Jason Rix

Last week, Richard Hooley spoke to us about what makes an agreement binding. He began with a quote from Blue v Ashley (incidentally, the post on that case is the most read on this blog): “…no reasonable person present in the Horse & Groom … would have thought that the offer to pay Mr Blue £15 million › Read More

13 June 2018 Oliver Rule

In Heis v FSCS, the Court of Appeal stepped in to prevent an innovative Company Voluntary Arrangement, in which a small number of MF Global UK creditors had agreed to buy out the majority for £64m, from coming into effect. The case turned on the meaning of a condition precedent. If there were a “Disputed › Read More

08 June 2018 Daniel Grimwood

In Triple Seven v Azman the court found that although the parties had entered into aircraft leasing contracts on the basis of a common assumption, which turned out to be wrong, the mistake was not sufficiently fundamental to render the contracts void. Even if it had been, the parties had allocated that risk. Nigerian airline Azman › Read More

22 May 2018 Megan Betts

In Rosalina v New Balance the court found that, having considered the full run of communications, the parties only intended to be bound when all parties had signed.  As they had not, there was no binding agreement. An attempt to rely on an open-end duty to negotiate in good faith was void for uncertainty. Under a › Read More

21 May 2018 Sophie Walker

In Carney v Rothschild, the High Court considered the efficacy of “basis clauses” in the context of a financial mis-selling claim in which it was alleged that an unfair relationship under the Consumer Credit Act 1974 had arisen. The claimants, four British expats living in Spain, had borrowed funds from the bank, secured against their › Read More

21 May 2018 Alex Kirby

We have updated our privacy policy in line with new data protection legislation – please take a few moments to read here. › Read More

16 May 2018 Richard Farnhill

This morning the Supreme Court handed down its judgment in Rock Advertising v MWB Business. It reversed the Court of Appeal and found that clauses limiting the parties’ ability to vary their contract are binding. A purported variation to the contract that fails to comply with the clause will therefore be ineffective. MWB had rented › Read More

10 May 2018 Andrzej O'Leary

In Paintshield Ltd v XPEL Technologies Corp, the High Court favoured a contextual interpretation over a literal one to find that XPEL had not breached an IP licence agreement. Paintshield had licensed to XPEL patterns for paint protection films for the bodywork of cars. These patterns were uploaded by Paintshield to a database owned by XPEL › Read More

26 April 2018 Jin Ooi

In Health & Case Management Ltd v The Physiotherapy Network, the court held there was no contractual obligation on HCML to make a certain number of referrals.  However, HCML had breached its good faith obligation by using TPN’s data to set up a rival network. Below I have picked out the court’s findings on the provisions in › Read More

25 April 2018 Lucy Judge

In Blackpool FC Properties v Baltic International Bank, the recitals of an agreement for the development of the club’s stadium were influential in informing the natural and ordinary meaning of the clause in dispute. Baltic’s loan, and BFC Properties’ commitment, was to cover phases one and two of the development. A recital provided that the › Read More