Summary Where a commercial lease provided a tenant with the full term in which to carry out required reinstatement works to the property, a surrender of the lease before expiry of the term released the potential liability. Also, the processes required by the Landlord and Tenant Act 1927 s.18(1) had to...

Summary Properties used entirely for commercial purposes were not "house[s] reasonably so called" for the purposes of the Leasehold Reform Act 1967 s.2(1), whatever their original design or current appearance, or the fact that they might look like houses and might be referred to as houses for some purposes. Facts...

Summary A defendant who had breached the terms of a freezing injunction by causing his companies to make pledges to Russian banks was ordered to use his best endeavours to intervene in any enforcement proceedings on the pledges to ensure that the Russian court was informed that the pledges had...

Summary Insurers were liable to indemnify a home-owner under the terms of an insurance policy for fire damage to his property where the likely cause of the fire was a cigarette accidentally discarded by a lodger, as opposed to the home owner's spouse deliberately starting the fire. Facts The claimant...

Summary A claim that the defendants had dishonestly assisted a third party in committing a breach of fiduciary duty represented an abuse of process given that the relevant factual allegations had been determined against the claimant in arbitration proceedings between it and the third party. There could be no rule...

Summary The claimant Russian businessman failed to prove any binding agreement that he was to have an interest in a Russian oil company or a Russian aluminium company. Facts The claimant (B) sued the defendant (D) claiming that he had an interest in two substantial Russian companies, Sibneft, an oil...

Summary The court granted an interim injunction preventing the purchaser of a painting from selling it without first giving notice to the previous owner where the previous owner had an arguable case that the painting remained vested in him because the purported sale was unauthorised and therefore void. Facts The...

Summary A limited liability partnership which had provided a bridging loan to finance a concert was entitled to recover the full amount due from the concert organiser. Under the terms of a debenture, the lender was entitled to existing and future copyright in sound and film recordings of the concert...

Summary The claimant had established that a painting bought by it at an auction by Christie's was a forgery; it was entitled to a refund under a limited warranty given by Christie's, but the latter's conditions of sale barred the claimant's claims in negligence and misrepresentation. Facts The claimant company ...