Maitland Chambers

28 Jun 21

Danish Tax Agency Pays £46 Million Of Legal Costs in UK Case

Michael Gibbon QC was asked to comment on the recent SKAT decision in the Commercial Court by a specialist tax publication in the US....

21 Jun 21

Privy Council Appeal in ITG v Fort Trustees

Thomas Fletcher appeared with Simon Taube QC of 10 Old Square and James Brightwell of Serle Court in the Privy Council appeal in ITG v Fort Trustees. The appeal from the Court of Appeal of Guernsey was heard together with the appeal from the Court of Appeal of Jersey in Equity Trust (Jersey) Ltd v Halabi over 3 days on 15 to 17 June 2021 before a 7-member panel of the Judicial Committee. The appeal raises fundamental issues regarding the nature of the trustee’s right of indemnity and the order of priority where a trust is “insolvent”. A summary of the issues and facts can be read here....

20 Jun 21

Pickering v Hughes & Ors [2021] EWHC 1672 (Ch)

Amanda Hadkiss (led by Richard Wormald QC of 3 Raymond Buildings) represented the executor of an estate in the trial of various claims between members of a family relating to a portfolio of residential and commercial properties and certain chattels. The case was heard in a seven-day trial before the Chancery Division of the High Court in Leeds. Judgment was handed down on 18 June 2021 and is available on Bailii here. ...

20 Jun 21

New authority from the Patents Court on unlawful distributions by companies

A new judgment of the Patents Court in London contains an important discussion of the circumstances in which a transaction by a company will be treated as ultra vires and void as an unlawful distribution to a shareholder at common law. Meade J gave judgment on 17 June 2021 in Add2 Research & Development Ltd v dSpace Ltd and another [2021] EWHC 1630 (Pat), following a six-day remote trial in the Patents Court in London. The claimant sought damages for patent infringement....

11 Jun 21

‘Rights, Powers and Remedies in Commercial Law’

Our members have a long history of contributing to scholarship about the law, particularly with Sweet & Maxwell. In recent years this has included the publication of 'Civil Fraud: Law, Practice & Procedure' (1st edn 2018; supplement forthcoming), edited by Thomas Grant QC and David Mumford QC with contributions from several members of Chambers; 'Snell’s Equity' (34th edn 2019), edited by John McGhee QC and Steven Elliott QC (of One Essex Court); 'Foskett on Compromise' (9th edn 2019), to which Rosanna Foskett is a contributor; and three works on trusts and wills to which Thomas Fletcheris a contributor. We are delighted that a new book to be published by Sweet & Maxwell has gone off to the printer today. In 'Rights, Powers and Remedies in Commercial Law', Ryan Turner looks principally at the ways in which legal powers encountered in different areas of commercial and chancery practice are reined in by the law and the entitlements of shareholders, creditors, and others to participate in collective decision-making processes that lead to the exercise (or not) of a contractual or statutory “majority” power. The book is available for pre-order here....

10 Jun 21

Maitland Chambers Invites Applications for Tenancy

Maitland Chambers is the leading set for commercial chancery barristers. Our members are consistently recognised for their excellence in commercial and all aspects of chancery practice, for the multi-specialist nature of their expertise, and for their commitment to the highest standards of advocacy....

18 May 21

Judgment in Covid-19 Commercial Rent Cases

Judgment has been handed down in the Covid-19 commercial-rent cases of Bank of New York Mellon v Cine-UK Ltd, AEW REIT Plc v Mecca Bingo Ltd and AEW REIT Plc v SportDirect.com Ltd [2021] EWHC 1013 (QB) in a combined judgment that can be found here....

29 Apr 21

High Court Judgment Handed Down in Hicks v 89 Holland Park Management Limited [2021] EWHC 930 (Comm)

John McGhee QC and James Hanham acted for the successful Covenantee and were instructed by Clive Chalkley and Charlotte Weeks of Gowling WLG....

12 Apr 21

Warner and Sony succeed in the Court of Appeal

The Court of Appeal (the Master of the Rolls, Lord Justice Arnold and Lady Justice Rose) gave judgment on 26 March 2021 in (1) Warner Music UK Limited (2) Sony Music Entertainment UK Limited v TuneIn Inc. The Court dismissed TuneIn’s appeal save in one small respect and upheld the High Court’s ruling that TuneIn infringed Warner and Sony’s copyrights through its operation of the TuneIn online internet radio service....