Compact Contract

A brief look at topical issues in contract

15 April 2019 Elizabeth Wall

Triumph v Primus included all the usual elements of a warranty dispute: an attempt to avoid the limitations by arguing a claim was not a “warranty claim”; an argument over disclosure; and, a defence around the service and contents of the notice of breach. Ultimately though, it was a warranty about the careful preparation of › Read More

10 April 2019 Deekshitha Swarna

In Mears v Costplan, the Court of Appeal looked at the question of material breach. Pickstock contracted with Plymouth to build two blocks of student accommodation. Mears entered into an agreement for lease of the property with Plymouth. The agreement for lease prohibited Plymouth from making any variations to the building that “materially affect the › Read More

03 April 2019 Flo Wang

In Oversea-China Banking Corporation v ING, the court held that damages based on a hypothetical indemnity were not recoverable for breach of warranty of quality on a share sale. OCBC entered into a sale and purchase agreement with ING to purchase shares in ING Asia. Subsequently, ING Asia paid USD 14.5m to Lehman Brothers to › Read More

22 March 2019 Jason Rix

In Bates v Post Office the court has implied a duty to act in good faith into a contract on the basis of it being relational. This dispute is between 550 claimants, most sub-postmasters, and the Post Office. It concerns Horizon, an electronic point of sale and accounting system. The claimants say defects in Horizon › Read More

14 March 2019 Richard Farnhill

The Court of Appeal has found that a third party beneficiary under the Contracts (Rights of Third Parties) Act 1999 can enforce an agreement entered into for its benefit, even if it was unaware of that agreement at all relevant times prior to commencing proceedings under it (Chudley v Clydesdale Bank). Arck LLP was incorporated › Read More

11 March 2019 Bianca Vasilache

In Cargill International Trading v Uttam Galva Steels, the High Court decided by summary judgment that a default interest rate of one-month LIBOR plus 12% was valid and enforceable. It did not amount to a penalty, it was validly incorporated into the contract and it was not illegal under Indian law. In 2015, Cargill entered › Read More

08 March 2019 Muir MacKean

Can a party tortiously induce a breach of contract without sufficient knowledge and intention? “No”, as confirmed in The Beans Group v MyUniDays – but liability may arise if activity continues knowingly and after notification of the breach. MyUniDays, which offers “Student Verification Technology” to companies providing student discounts, entered into contracts with an online › Read More

05 March 2019 Jason Rix

In this article for the Commercial Litigation Journal I run through the recent cases looking at decision-making provisions in contracts and I suggest how best to interpret them and also offer some tips for drafting.   (Also available at www.lawjournals.co.uk.) › Read More

26 February 2019 Oliver Rule

Nearly three years after the referendum, Britain still hasn’t decided what sort of Brexit it wants. For the European Medicines Agency, however, the prospect of Brexit has already meant a departure from its shiny new headquarters in London, its relocation to Amsterdam even being written into EU law in 2018. Just as Britain has struggled › Read More

13 February 2019 Jason Rix

This morning the Supreme Court found, overturning the Court of Appeal, that a short telephone call was enough to create a binding agreement between an estate agent and his client, even though the trigger event for the commission had not been specified (Wells v Devani). There were very different accounts of the crucial phone call. › Read More