Insights By Penningtons Manches: A bundle of fun, and other stories…

Clare Arthurs and Nicole Finlayson review recent decisions ‘As ever then, the moral of the story is – to avoid doubt, spell/write/type it out.’ Life as a commercial litigator is (large disclosure exercises aside) usually varied and stimulating. No two cases are ever the same, and you never know what is going to cross your …
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Drafting: The letter of the law

Brioney Thomas and Grace Dawson Stephens weigh up a recent decision on penalties ‘The case is authority that a price reduction, recorded separately but contemporaneously with a main agreement, should be considered a primary obligation of the overall deal.’ Practitioners should take note of the recent application of the law on penalties in Vivienne Westwood …
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Disclosure: Blind data

Gwendoline Davies guides the way through the obligations of data protection and disclosure ‘Whenever a data controller wishes to rely on the disproportionality or the privilege exemption, it should be prepared to justify that decision, with evidence in support.’ The extent of a data controller’s obligations to respond to data subject access requests (DSARs), and …
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Contract: Nohow or contrariwise

Paul Brehony and William Gow consider the pendulum of case law in contractual interpretation ‘Parties should draft express provisions to clarify intention and not rely on pre-contractual representations or negotiations.’ In Investors Compensation Scheme Ltd v West Bromwich Building Society [1997], Leggatt LJ cited Alice Through the Looking Glass when rejecting the interpretation adopted by …
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Insolvency: Tried and trusted

Kathryn Maclennan takes a view on the impact of a recent decision on trusts created by IVAs ‘The insolvency legislation is relatively light when it comes to IVAs and this is for good reason. An IVA is a contract and effect must be given to its terms.’ The Court of Appeal (CoA) decision in Green …
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Practice: Menu à la contract

James Popperwell and Nikolas Ireland examine a recent case looking at contract formation ‘The tentative nature of the words used by MacInnes in referring to and describing the alleged agreement signified that the formulation process was ongoing as opposed to being a concluded agreement.’The High Court’s recent decision in MacInnes v Gross [2017] provides a …
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IT: The appliance of science

Tom White and Claire Curtis explore how technology is revolutionising dispute resolution ‘There are numerous arguments in favour of introducing an online dispute resolution platform for low-value claims, from increasing access to justice and saving costs, to discouraging, or at least mitigating the impact of, vexatious claims.’Technology and the law is certainly not a new …
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