Litigation/Dispute Resolution

The High Court has thrown out a defamation claim over a letter sent by one law firm to another asserting a solicitor’s lien over £100,000 of any damages awarded to its former clients.

The Court of Appeal has upheld an award of £300,000 to a small central London law firm owed under a retainer which the client had claimed was not payable.

The government looks set to remove the costs risk from defending cases found to be SLAPPs and will in time extend the curbs it announced on Tuesday beyond economic crime.

The government is to define in law what a SLAPP is in relation to economic crime and require claimants to prove it has a reasonable chance of success to advance it in court.

The Online Procedure Rule Committee is finally up and running and due to meet this month – although the specific areas of litigation where it will initially focus are not yet known.

A High Court judge has dismissed an appeal by a solicitor who launched a £10,000 libel claim over an online review, citing her “longstanding and reprehensible” rule breaches.

The Supreme Court has refused mining giant BHP permission to appeal the Court of Appeal’s decision allowing the largest group action ever to go ahead.

A law firm had “every right” to terminate its retainer with a clinical negligence client when presented with evidence from the defendant that she had lied about the severity of her symptoms.

The Master of the Rolls has said he believes the extension of fixed recoverable costs (FRCs) to many cases worth up to £100,000 in October is “a good thing” and “I hope it works”.

A claim against a law firm thrown out for being served too late can now proceed after the Court of Appeal held that the claim form was sealed with the wrong date.

The Post Office has replaced City giant Herbert Smith Freehills as its solicitors for the ongoing Horizon IT Inquiry, it announced yesterday, a move observers suggested was overdue.

The number of claims lodged at the county court has returned to near pre-Covid levels but the time between issue and trial has reached a new all-time high.

The High Court has rejected claims made against a law firm which advised a medical services company on a restructure which claimants alleged was designed to put its assets beyond the reach of creditors.

The High Court has struck out a negligence claim against the law firm and eight barristers who acted on a failed group action on behalf of more than 40,000 Kenyans against the Foreign Office.

The judge in the Chris Packham libel trial has deprecated “gratuitously offensive” comments the defendants targeted at the TV presenter’s solicitors.