Richard Hermer QC (sitting as a High Court Judge) recently gave some helpful practical guidance on how the English courts approach the interpretation of foreign legal materials (for example, building regulations) in Deane v Barker & Ors [2022] EWHC 1523 (QB). The judgment is particularly useful for its clear pointers to lawyers about how an…
Read moreChanges incoming for service gateways
The 149th Practice Direction Update will see some significant changes being made to the CPR 6BPD service gateways with effect from 1 October 2022. The key new provisions (and what they mean in practical terms) are outlined in this blog post.
Read moreCommercial Court Guide ‘essential’ in cases involving foreign law
Today’s blog considers a short but useful decision at a pre-trial review in Suppipat v Narongdej [2022] EWHC 1806 (Comm) (available on Westlaw). This is apparently the first decision applying the detailed provisions of the new Commercial Court Guide on foreign law evidence which we covered in a separate blog post.
Read moreDefendant denied full costs despite winning forum challenge
Once parties to jurisdiction challenges appreciate the adverse costs consequences of not taking a realistic approach to the three true issues that arise the sooner these applications will take less time, consume less public resources and get disposed of more quickly. Here’s a neat point for claimants facing a big costs bill at the end…
Read moreUK Government launches ‘Retained EU Law Dashboard’
We previously wrote about Lord Frost’s promise to carry out a comprehensive review of the content of Retained EU law. As a result of that review, the Government has released a ‘Retained EU Law Dashboard’, which can be accessed here. The Dashboard “showcases the outcome of this review as an authoritative catalogue of [Retained EU…
Read moreThe US legal system – an English barrister’s view
This is a blog post by Spencer Turner about his recent experience of the US legal system during his travels on a Pegasus Trust Scholarship. “America is not like a blanket – one piece of unbroken cloth, the same colour, the same texture, the same size. America is more like a quilt – many patches,…
Read moreVictory for clinic in cross-border clinical negligence jurisdiction battle
In this blog post, John-Paul Swoboda considers the recent decision in Pal v Damen & Anor [2022] EWHC 4697 (QB). This was a cross-border clinical negligence battle following hot on the heels of Clarke v Kalecinski & Ors [2022] EWHC 488 (QB) (which we considered here). In May 2016 the Claimant, Lisa Pal, underwent elective…
Read moreForum disputes: “get it right first time”
As I said at the outset, I was persuaded to give permission to appeal because it appeared that a question of principle might arise. With the benefit of argument, I doubt whether that is so. However, this appeal will have served a useful purpose if it underlines the importance, in this context as elsewhere, of…
Read moreCan you strike out without submitting to the jurisdiction?
James Beeton
We know from cases like PJSC Bank “Finance And Credit” & Anor v Valentynovich & Ors [2021] EWHC 2522 (Ch) at [67] and Tsareva v Ananyev [2019] EWHC 2414 (Comm) at [60] that defendants have been allowed to issue conjoined applications disputing the court’s jurisdiction while simultaneously applying for strike-out or summary judgment without this…
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…
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