Unfair prejudice petitions under s.994 Companies Act 2006 are a key way for minority shareholders to pursue claims when their interests have been adversely affected by the conduct of the majority.  However, until very recently, there was considerable doubt as to whether claims brought in this way by minority shareholders could be time-barred under the provisions of the Limitation Act 1980, and, if so, how.  The received wisdom was that they probably couldn’t be.

For almost 10 years there has been debate whether parties to litigation could be compelled to engage in mediation or other non-court dispute resolution process. 

We’re thrilled to welcome our newest Partner Jeremy Lederman to the team!

‌Jeremy joins our Disputes team with a huge wealth of litigation experience, and an international reputation for helping clients in critical situations.

Judgment was handed down on 19 July 2023 in Re Mitt Wearables Ltd, in which Laytons acted for the 5th respondent Koalaa Ltd, the disruptive designer of soft sleeve prostheses. Koalaa is now set to revolutionise the market for prostheses and make comfortable, adaptable and affordable prostheses for all kinds of limb differences accessible to all. 

The government has now published the first draft of the Renters (Reform) Bill 2023. The Bill outlines several proposals which are hoped to establish a fairer private rented sector for both landlords and tenants across the UK.

Following only modest engagement with its consultation of the UK legal sector, the UK Government announced that it will sign the United Nations’ Convention on International Settlement Agreements Resulting from Mediation (the Singapore Convention).

Over the weekend, the Bank of England, the Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and the Chancellor entered crisis talks to save Silicon Valley Bank UK Limited (“SVBUK”) from an insolvency process planned for Sunday evening, 12 March 2023.

Here is a selection of some matters (capped at 30) to be considered at various phases in the lifecycle of a contract and any consequent dispute.

In the current economic climate, the old cliché “cash is king” could not be more relevant. Receivables are only as good as receipts.

A new challenge to English consumer protection law is in the making for international online auction platforms selling decentralized and anonymized assets such as NFTs and other crypto assets to English consumers.

The UK’s Supreme Court has dismissed a claim calling for the law to be changed to force company directors to start taking creditors into account at the first risk of insolvency. The ruling reaffirms the current position in law in stating that creditors' interests duty arises when the directors know or ought to know the company is insolvent or bordering on insolvency, or insolvency is probable.

We’re delighted to be expanding our Disputes team here at Laytons ETL. In the last couple of weeks, we’ve had a number of promotions and new starters.

We are delighted to announce that with effect from 1 August 2022, Ben Thorogood has been appointed Partner.

Rebekah Vardy is facing paying a significant contribution to Colleen Rooney’s substantial costs. This will require more than a few drama spin-offs, documentaries, and reality TV appearances.

If long litigation experience tells you one thing, it’s that “winning” and “losing” are relative concepts.

The Libralex Global Conference took place week in Central London where Managing Partner and arbitrator, John Abbott and Partner, Paddy Kelly gave talks at the working session on Ukraine.

At the recent Art Law Conference at Christies, the question was asked, “are NFTs an art-form?”. The recent case of Amir Soleymani -v- Nifty Gateway LLC [2022] EWHC 773 (Comm) illustrates some of the issues that can arise when using online auction platforms to sell digitalised art.

Geraint Thomas has been featured in the Times’ Lawyer of the Week following a long-running legal dispute between former publican Geoffrey Monks and the now-disbanded East Northamptonshire Council.

A long-running legal dispute between former publican Geoffrey Monks and the now-disbanded East Northamptonshire Council has concluded after both parties agreed to a settlement.

The tone of much litigation correspondence is often one of outraged offence: your client is the repository of all virtue and the “other side” is guilty of extreme bad faith. This can sometimes be hidden in mild language: the description “unhelpful” often covers a multitude of sins in its passive-aggressive use and can easily be understood to mean that the recipient party is guilty of egregious misconduct.

The case of Lloyd v. Google recently decided by the Supreme Court of the UK was an attempt to establish a claim put at £750 per individual affected. But what caused lawyers and litigation funders to salivate was the fact that many millions of individuals were in fact affected by data breaches.

On 9 November 2021, the Government announced new legislation and a Code of Practice to resolve commercial rent arrears that accrued during the pandemic. The new legislation is intended to take effect once the current moratorium, which protects commercial tenants from eviction, ends on 25 March 2022.