header-logo header-logo

Law digests: 21 February 2025

21 February 2025
Issue: 8105 / Categories: Case law , In Court , Law digest
printer mail-detail

Contempt of court

SIA Investment Industry v Pardus Wealth Ltd and another [2025] EWHC 269 (Comm)

The Commercial Court ruled on the appropriate sanction to be imposed on the second respondent, who had, in earlier proceedings, been found guilty of contempt of court for failing to comply with several provisions of a freezing order issued on 17 November 2023. Three specific breaches had been identified: failure to inform the applicant company’s solicitors of his assets exceeding £10,000; failure to swear and serve an affidavit verifying the disclosed information; and entering into a loan extension that diminished the equity of a property known as Saffron House. The court held that the breaches undermined the administration of justice and that, in all the circumstances, an immediate custodial sentence of 15 months’ imprisonment was appropriate. Accordingly, an order for committal was made.


Costs

Zavorotnii (by his litigation friend Zoia Sircovscaia) v Malinowski and others [2025] EWHC 260 (KB)

The King’s Bench Division ruled on a discrete point raised at a costs case management hearing,

If you are not a subscriber, subscribe now to read this content
If you are already a subscriber sign in
...or Register for two weeks' free access to subscriber content

MOVERS & SHAKERS

Carey Olsen—Kim Paiva

Carey Olsen—Kim Paiva

Group partner joins Guernsey banking and finance practice

Morgan Lewis—Kat Gibson

Morgan Lewis—Kat Gibson

London labour and employment team announces partner hire

Foot Anstey McKees—Chris Milligan & Michael Kelly

Foot Anstey McKees—Chris Milligan & Michael Kelly

Double partner appointment marks Belfast expansion

NEWS
The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) has not done enough to protect the future sustainability of the legal aid market, MPs have warned
Writing in NLJ this week, NLJ columnist Dominic Regan surveys a landscape marked by leapfrog appeals, costs skirmishes and notable retirements. With an appeal in Mazur due to be heard next month, Regan notes that uncertainties remain over who will intervene, and hopes for the involvement of the Lady Chief Justice and the Master of the Rolls in deciding the all-important outcome
After the Southport murders and the misinformation that followed, contempt of court law has come under intense scrutiny. In this week's NLJ, Lawrence McNamara and Lauren Schaefer of the Law Commission unpack proposals aimed at restoring clarity without sacrificing fair trial rights
The latest Home Office figures confirm that stop and search remains both controversial and diminished. Writing in NLJ this week, Neil Parpworth of De Montfort University analyses data showing historically low use of s 1 PACE powers, with drugs searches dominating what remains
Boris Johnson’s 2019 attempt to shut down Parliament remains a constitutional cautionary tale. The move, framed as a routine exercise of the royal prerogative, was in truth an extraordinary effort to sideline Parliament at the height of the Brexit crisis. Writing in NLJ this week, Professor Graham Zellick KC dissects how prorogation was wrongly assumed to be beyond judicial scrutiny, only for the Supreme Court to intervene unanimously
back-to-top-scroll