header-logo header-logo

Home Login E-newsletter About us
17 September 2009 / Simon Love
Categories: Features , Professional negligence
printer mail-detail

Liability matters

© Copyright LexisNexis 2026. All Rights Reserved.

Levicom underlines the pivotal role
of causation in professional negligence cases, says Simon Love

The recent case of Levicom International Holdings BV and another v Linklaters, [2009] EWHC 812 (Comm), [2009] All ER (D) 158 (Apr) highlights the importance of causation in successful professional negligence cases.

The Levicom Group had telecom businesses throughout the Baltic states. The claimant Levicom companies entered into shareholder agreements with Swedish companies (S), which governed S’s equity investments in two Estonian subsidiaries of Levicom.

The shareholder agreements regulated the relationship between the shareholders in the two companies.

One of the agreements (the CSA) contained a covenant by S not to carry on any cellular network business in any of the Baltic states which was the same as, or which competed with, any business carried out by Levicom. S subsequently acquired a Latvian mobile phone operator called Baltcom which Levicom considered placed them in breach of the covenant in the CSA.

Levicom instructed Linklaters to advise on its dispute with S. In due course, Levicom brought arbitration proceedings which were ultimately settled

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

Read All
Sponsored by
Carey Olsen—Patrick Ormond

Carey Olsen—Patrick Ormond

Partner joinscorporate and finance practice in British Virgin Islands

Dawson Cornwell—Naomi Angell

Dawson Cornwell—Naomi Angell

Firm strengthens children department with adoption and surrogacy expert

Penningtons Manches Cooper—Graham Green

Penningtons Manches Cooper—Graham Green

Media and technology expert joins employment team as partner in Cambridge

NEWS
Read All
NLJ this week: Divorce ‘nuclear weapon’ freezes assets but entangles outsiders
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 
NLJ this week: What counts as ‘rent’? Court says labour alone won’t do
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
Your magistrates’ court needs you!
Thousands more magistrates are to be recruited, under a major shake-up to speed up and expand the hiring process
NLJ this week: Freed but failed—justice system leaves the innocent empty-handed
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’
NLJ this week: Clarity on whistleblowing, settlements and tribunal limits
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’ 
Copyright © 2026 LexisNexis
back-to-top-scroll