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09 May 2014 / Dominic Regan
Issue: 7605 / Categories: Features
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And the loser is…

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 Dominic Regan celebrates a list of legal losers

 

News of the 2014 Halsbury Legal Awards got me thinking. For every winner, anywhere, there is always in the shadows a string of losers. We should celebrate them.

This already happens in the film industry where each year the raspberry (or Razzie) awards are handed out. Adam Sandler set a new record for Jack and Jill. He portrayed twins and was simultaneously nominated for both worst male and female leads.

The law reports are full of unfortunate losers. Mr Lilley recently sued for a cool billion pounds damages but did not quite hit his target, being told that quantum was actually £83 (Lilley v DMG Events Ltd [2014] EWHC 610 (IPEC), [2014] All ER (D) 123 (Mar)).

Big names in big trouble

A resilient claimant, Mrs Ferguson, took on the might of British Gas. The company had bombarded her with threatening letters generated by their claims software. The poor woman launched an action for harassment under the 1997 Act. The novel defence advanced

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MOVERS & SHAKERS

Sidley—James Inness

Sidley—James Inness

Partner joins capital markets team in London office

Haynes Boone—William Cecil

Haynes Boone—William Cecil

Firm announces appointment of partner as UK general counsel

Devonshires—Nicholas Barrows

Devonshires—Nicholas Barrows

Firm appoints first chief marketing officer to drive growth strategy

NEWS
Cheating in driving tests is surging—and courts are responding firmly. Writing in NLJ this week, Neil Parpworth of De Montfort Law School charts a rise in impersonation and tech-assisted fraud, with 2,844 attempts recorded in a year
As AI-generated ‘deepfake’ images proliferate, the law may already have the tools to respond. In NLJ this week, Jon Belcher of Excello Law argues that such images amount to personal data processing under UK GDPR
In a striking financial remedies ruling, the High Court cut a wife’s award by 40% for coercive and controlling behaviour. Writing in NLJ this week, Chris Bryden and Nicole Wallace of 4 King’s Bench Walk analyse LP v MP [2025] EWFC 473
A €60.9m award to Kylian Mbappé has refocused attention on football’s controversial ‘ethics bonus’ clauses. Writing in NLJ this week, Dr Estelle Ivanova of Valloni Attorneys at Law examines how such provisions sit within French labour law
A seemingly dry procedural update may prove potent. In his latest 'Civil way' column for NLJ this week, Stephen Gold explains that new CPR 31.12A—part of the 193rd update—fills a ‘lacuna’ exposed in McLaren Indy v Alpa Racing
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