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20 May 2020
Issue: 7887 / Categories: Case law , Law digest , In Court
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Law digests: 22 May 2020

Company

Re Debenhams Retail Ltd (in administration) Rowley and another (as joint administrators of Debenhams Retail Ltd) [2020] EWCA Civ 600, [2020] All ER (D) 42 (May)

The judge had been correct to determine that, by paying only the amounts which might be claimed under the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (JRS) to employees of Debenhams Retail Ltd (the company) while they had been furloughed, the appellant joint administrators had adopted the contracts of those employees with the effect that those employees had, potentially, enjoyed super-priority in the administration. The Court of Appeal, Civil Division, dismissing the administrators’ appeal, held that the question was whether the conduct of the administrators had been such that they had to be taken to have accepted that the relevant amounts falling due under the employment contracts had enjoyed super-priority. In the present case, because of the nature of the JRS, the administrators had continued the employment of the furloughed employees.


European Union

LG and others v Rina SpA and another C-641/18, [2020] All ER (D) 69 (May)

Article

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MOVERS & SHAKERS

London Solicitors Litigation Association—John McElroy

London Solicitors Litigation Association—John McElroy

Fieldfisher partner appointed president as LSLA marks milestone year

Kingsley Napley—Kirsty Churm & Olivia Stiles

Kingsley Napley—Kirsty Churm & Olivia Stiles

Firm promotes two lawyers to partnership across employment and family

Foot Anstey—five promotions

Foot Anstey—five promotions

Firm promotes five lawyers to partnership across key growth areas

NEWS
Freezing orders in divorce proceedings can unexpectedly ensnare third parties and disrupt businesses. In NLJ this week, Lucy James of Trowers & Hamlins explains how these orders—dubbed a ‘nuclear weapon’—preserve assets but can extend far beyond spouses to companies and business partners 
A Court of Appeal ruling has clarified that ‘rent’ must be monetary—excluding tenants paid in labour from statutory protection. In this week's NLJ, James Naylor explains Garraway v Phillips, where a tenant worked two days a week instead of paying rent
Thousands more magistrates are to be recruited, under a major shake-up to speed up and expand the hiring process
Three men wrongly imprisoned for a combined 77 years have been released—yet received ‘not a penny’ in compensation, exposing deep flaws in the justice system. Writing in NLJ this week, Dr Jon Robins reports on Justin Plummer, Oliver Campbell and Peter Sullivan, whose convictions collapsed amid discredited forensics, ‘oppressive’ police interviews and unreliable ‘cell confessions’
A quiet month for employment cases still delivers key legal clarifications. In his latest Employment Law Brief for NLJ, Ian Smith reports that whistleblowing protection remains intact even where disclosures are partly self-serving, provided the worker reasonably believes they serve the ‘public interest’ 
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