The High Court has handed down an interesting judgment on service, jurisdiction and forum conveniens post Brexit. In this post, Alex Carington considers the decision of Master McCloud in Charlton v Deffert [2022] EWHC 2378 (KB) in which he successfully defended a jurisdiction challenge by the Defendant. A copy of the judgment can be found…
Read moreLast question
I can’t resist raising a question for discussion that I’ve been thinking about before I retire. Here it is: Do claimants in fatal accident claims governed by a foreign law have QOCS protection?
Read moreWelcome to our new editor
In what is without doubt the biggest resignation news of the last week, I can announce that after six years the time has finally come for me to step down as editor of this blog. Fortunately, there will be no messy contest for my replacement: I’m delighted to hand it over to Spencer Turner. For…
Read moreAppeal succeeds in Scottish fatal diving accident case
Lois Aldred of 12 King’s Bench Walk previously blogged about the decision of the Outer House of the Court of Session in Warner v Scapa Flow Charters. That decision – in favour of the pursuer – has since been overturned by the Inner House. The litigation in summary concerns the standard of care required of the…
Read moreCourt of Appeal: closure of FPS was not a good reason to extend time for service abroad
Back in the midst of the pandemic, we blogged about the decision of the Senior Master to shut down the Foreign Process Section of the Queen’s Bench Division. The effect, as we pointed out in a follow-up blog post, was to make it practically impossible to serve abroad in many cases. Can litigants rely on…
Read moreCosts capping order refused in Malawian tea plantation litigation
A fascinating costs decision has just been released (please bear with me) in Thomas & Ors v PGI Group Ltd [2021] EWHC 2776 (QB). Kate Boakes is one of the counsel team representing the Claimants. 31 women employed at tea and macadamia nut plantations in Malawi allege sexual assault, harassment, and other types of sexual…
Read moreSupreme Court to rule in Brownlie (again)
A newsflash: the Supreme Court has announced it will be handing down judgment in FS Cairo (Nile Plaza) LLC v Brownlie at 9.45 am on Wednesday 20 October. Watch this space …
Read moreWhen in Rome … Guidance from judges applying Italian law
Two recent decisions – both coincidentally dealing with the application of Italian law in the English courts – have given some useful general indicators about how the courts will approach the determination of disputes concerning foreign law. In River Countess BV & Ors v MSC Cruise Management (UK) Ltd [2021] EWHC 2652 (Admlty), Andrew Baker…
Read moreLocal standards in skiing claims
My thanks to Tom Collins of 1 Chancery Lane for letting me feature this article about a recent package travel case in which he successfully appeared on instructions from Michael Gwilliam of Plexus Legal LLP. The article first appeared in 1 Chancery Lane’s Weekly Roundup, which can be accessed here. In Doyle v Rayburn Tours Limited (Unreported)…
Read moreGriffiths overturned by Court of Appeal majority
In Griffiths v TUI (UK) Ltd [2021] EWCA Civ 1442, the Court of Appeal has handed down judgment on the question of whether the court can evaluate and reject an “uncontroverted” expert’s report, and if so, in what circumstances. The background to this holiday sickness case will by now be familiar to travel lawyers: we…
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