The Judicial Review and Courts Act 2022 (the “Act”) received Royal Assent on 28 April 2022. The Act is based on the Judicial Review and Courts Bill (“Bill”) which was introduced to Parliament on 22 July 2021 after the Independent Review of Administrative Law (IRAL) had been carried out. The IRAL was established following the 2019 Conservative Party manifesto commitment that it would “ensure that judicial review is available to protect the rights of the…
On 12 January 2022, the High Court of Justice (“High Court”) handed down its judgment in the challenges to the Government’s award of contracts for personal protective equipment (PPE) during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic.[i] The Court ruled that it was unlawful for those suppliers referred by Ministers, MPs and other senior officials to be afforded favourable treatment, by being allocated to a so-called ‘VIP lane’. Notwithstanding this, the Court did not find…
1. Summary of English case law The most recent English case to consider the application of choice-of-forum clauses in commercial contracts to cartel damage claims was Microsoft Mobile OY (Ltd) v Sony Europe Limited [2017] EWHC 374 (Ch). This case centred on a cartel damages claim brought by Microsoft against Sony with regard to contracts for the sale of lithium-ion batteries. The supply contract contained an arbitration clause and, importantly for this decision, the agreement also…
The English Supreme Court in Vedanta Resources PLC and Another v Lungowe and others has allowed over 1,800 Zambian villagers to issue proceedings in England against an English parent and its Zambian subsidiary. This decision could pave the way for other mass tort claim bearing similar features. The decision tipped in favour of England as the proper place to bring this claim due to the perceived inability for the Zambian claimants to obtain access to…
The Crime (Overseas Production Orders) Act 2019 (the “Act”) received Royal Assent on 12 February 2019. The Act allows UK law enforcement agencies including the Serious Fraud Office, HMRC and the Financial Conduct Authority, to apply for a court order with extra-territorial effect (an Overseas Production Order or “OPO”) to obtain data stored electronically, directly from communications service providers (“CSPs”) based outside the UK, in order to assist with domestic investigations and prosecutions of serious…