Two recent cases highlight the importance for businesses of taking care when negotiating and drafting contracts. In the first, the Court of Appeal held that losses caused by a breach of contract and arising out of a fall in property…
Just because a term in a contract is breached does not necessarily mean that the contract can be rescinded, as was demonstrated by a dispute between a company that owned land and a wind farm company. The company that owned…
A property developer who ended up on the receiving end of a judge's moral views when he claimed more than £100,000 damages after his Rolls Royce was dented in a minor road accident has failed to convince the Court of…
A businessman has been held personally liable for debts of more than $12 million even though he was not a party to the loan agreements which created the debt. The High Court ruled that a letter he wrote offering to…
A company that sued a trade rival for slander and malicious falsehood, claiming that an over-enthusiastic salesman had disparaged its business model to a potential customer, has had its case struck out on the basis that pursuing the matter to…
In an important ruling for employers and the insurance industry, a sole director and shareholder who sued his own company after his finger was sliced off in a workplace accident has had his compensation hopes dashed. The Court of Appeal…
If a member of staff uses your computer system to exchange emails, does the content of the email become the property of your business? This question was addressed recently in a court case concerning a dispute that arose between a…
A High Court case underlines the importance of careful wording when drafting restrictive covenants, as well as the need for regular review of contractual restrictions to ensure they reflect the current position. The court held that an employee was entitled…
The Information Commissioner’s Office has fined Sony Computer Entertainment Europe Ltd £250,000 for a serious breach of the Data Protection Act 1998. In April 2011, the Sony Playstation Network Platform was hacked and the attacker was able to access the…
Franchisors will welcome a High Court decision that applied established employment law principles on restrictive covenants to a business to business relationship. The court enforced an ambiguously drafted restrictive covenant against an ex-franchisee and also dismissed an argument that a…