The award of public contracts is automatically suspended if disputes arise as to the fairness of the tendering process. In deciding whether such suspensions should be continued until trial, however, judges have to strike a
It is in the nature of contract adjudicators’ work that they cannot please everyone and often have to make decisions that are contrary to the interests of those responsible for paying their fees. Exactly that
Articles of association are often read just once, if at all, by company directors before being put away in a safe to gather dust. However, as one Court of Appeal ruling showed, they are the
Companies in which no one has a controlling interest can easily become deadlocked if shareholders fall out. However, judges have a range of powers to bring such paralysis to an end and enable all concerned
Construction contracts can go horribly wrong, but few can have been as disastrous as one prestige office development which culminated in giant panes of glass falling into the street, putting the lives of passers-by at
No matter how complex or multi-layered they may be, tax avoidance schemes do not always work. A football club found that out to its cost when the Supreme Court ruled that a structure of trusts,
The law frowns on unreasonable contractual terms contained within standard terms of business – but what exactly does the latter phrase mean? The Court of Appeal considered that issue in an important test case that
Long tail losses arising out of asbestos exposure are immense and judges are often obliged to delve far back into corporate history in order to discern where liabilities rightfully fall. That was certainly so in
The fairness of public contract tendering is rigorously enforced and the award of any such contract is automatically suspended if a dispute arises. However, in one case, the High Court ruled that the continuation of
Vast investment in nurturing public recognition of trade marks is almost equalled by the resources that go into protecting them against misuse. In one case, motor manufacturing giant BMW triumphed in infringement proceedings against a
