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01 January 2009 / Kit Jarvis , James Lewis
Issue: 7350+7351 / Categories: Features , Commercial
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Avoiding a pyrrhic victory

James Lewis & Kit Jarvis discuss recent case law on enforcement

A judgment that cannot be enforced through to payment is really a pyrrhic victory that is, at best, valueless or, at worst, a source of additional loss through the legal fees expended to obtain it. Given current financial conditions, enforcement risk is of increased concern for those who may have to commence legal proceedings. In circumstances where the once mightyLehman Brothers was forced into administration within a very short period of time, it is also clear that those who have already embarked on legal proceedings against an opponent that appeared to be fi nancially solid at the time of commencement of proceedings would be well advised to focus on enforcement issues regularly throughout the litigation process.

The English courts have recently considered a variety of enforcement situations and, in the main, have tried to provide practical support for judgment creditors struggling to enforce the judgments they have obtained. Th is article looks at some of the most recent cases.


Receivers for equitable

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NEWS
Contract damages are usually assessed at the date of breach—but not always. Writing in NLJ this week, Ian Gascoigne, knowledge lawyer at LexisNexis, examines the growing body of cases where courts have allowed later events to reshape compensation
The Supreme Court has restored ‘doctrinal coherence’ to unfair prejudice litigation, writes Natalie Quinlivan, partner at Fieldfisher LLP, in this week' NLJ
The High Court’s refusal to recognise a prolific sperm donor as a child’s legal parent has highlighted the risks of informal conception arrangements, according to Liam Hurren, associate at Kingsley Napley, in NLJ this week
The Court of Appeal’s decision in Mazur may have settled questions around litigation supervision, but the profession should not simply ‘move on’, argues Jennifer Coupland, CEO of CILEX, in this week's NLJ
A simple phrase like ‘subject to references’ may not protect employers as much as they think. Writing in NLJ this week, Ian Smith, barrister and emeritus professor of employment law at UEA, analyses recent employment cases showing how conditional job offers can still create binding contracts
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