In claims brought by names alleging deceit against Lloyd’s for the description of the effects of Reinsurance to Close when members joined the claims were struck out for abuse of process. They could and should have been brought in an earlier action by names against Lloyds. Additionally there was no real prospect of establishing deceit because there of the absence of evidence to show that Lloyds knew that the representations made were false and furthermore the claims were time barred as the facts ...
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An appeal in a trade mark licensing matter was allowed in part. The licensee claimed damages for misrepresentation and breach of contract against the defendant trade mark owner, where the trade mark owner had purported to terminate the agreement, and it was alleged that the trade mark owner had failed to disclose pre-existing rights which had been granted to a third party. The Court of Appeal dismissed the trade mark owner’s appeal on the termination issue, holding that the trade mark owner’s n ...
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Clear Offer to Settle Bill Could be a ‘Special Circumstance’: It was held on an appeal to the Queens Bench Division that a clear without prejudice offer to settle a bill of costs with its client, made in proper time and in proper form, was capable of being a special circumstance that could reverse the statutory presumption under section 70 of the Solicitors Act 1974 that the firm were liable to pay the costs of the detailed assessment proceedings. However, in the instant case, there were no spec ...
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A revocation action was largely successful against a patent for manufacture of a medicament for potentiating the effects of blood pressure reducing agents. The patentee’s own earlier patent anticipated several of the claims of the later one. The same technical effect underlay both the old and new use and the new use was for the same purpose. Merely explaining the mechanism that lay behind the previously described use could not without more give rise to novelty. Further claims of the patent h ...
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Other Party’s Liability DidNot Affect Occupiers’ Duty of Care:The Court of Appeal held that the fact that another party might be liable for injuries to a visitor to a premises did not preclude an occupier from being held liable under section 2 of the Occupies Liability Act 1957. On the instant case, no amount of supervision of the contractor by his employer could have prevented him from taking the false step which led to him falling off a landing in the occupier’s premises where he was working. ...
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In proceedings against accountants in respect of tax advice as to the issue of dividends, a new cause of action based on a personal contractual retainer was permitted to be brought after the expiry of the limitation period as it arose out of the same or substantially the same facts as the pleaded claim in respect of the corporate retainer.
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Claimant’s Claim for Damages not Inextricably Bound Up in Criminal Conduct: The Court of Appeal held that a claimant who suffered severe PTSD in a rail crash, and was subsequently convicted of manslaughter on the ground of diminished responsibility, could recover for loss of earnings both up to and after the date of the manslaughter; he did not fall foul of the maxim of ex turpi causa. In a case where it was not suggested that the cause of action arose out of an illegal act, the question was whe ...
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Z, the owner of various patents concerned with tape drives for printers and similar equipment, claimed for infringement following a series of earlier disputes with M over entitlement. In the earlier entitlement proceedings, counsel for Z had made an unconditional undertaking to amend patent 602 down to a claim no wider than claim 5, although this had not been recorded in any order. Accordingly, and even though the earlier court had not relied on the undertaking in deciding the entitlement cla ...
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A letter of intent sent by D to C referred to the parties’ intention to enter into a JCT Intermediate contract. The letter of intent also stipulated, amongst other things, a commencement date, a completion date and a cap on any reimbursement that D would have to pay to C in the event that it was not possible for the parties to execute a formal contract in place of the letter. C signed and returned the letter of intent and commenced the works. Thereafter delays occurred and D sought to terminate ...
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In proceedings for copyright infringement, arising from the supply and use in the UK of foreign satellite transmission decoder cards, the court decided that a number of questions should be referred to the ECJ for determination. In particular, guidance was required as to the interpretation of “illicit device” and “possession for commercial purposes” in Directive 98/84, and as to the legal test to be applied and circumstances to be taken into consideration in deciding whether the contractual rest ...
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