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NLJ this week: All eyes on motor finance case with billions at stake

14 March 2025
Issue: 8108 / Categories: Legal News , Financial services litigation , Consumer , Regulatory , Commercial
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Johnson v FirstRand sent ‘shockwaves through the financial services industry’, write Eddie Flanagan, partner and specialist in asset and debt recovery, and Harpreet Sandhu, Chartered Legal Executive at Shakespeare Martineau, in this week’s NLJ. They discuss the case and its astonishing implications. For example, Santander UK revealed in November that it has set aside £295m for potential compensation.

With the Supreme Court due to begin considering the case next month, this is a timely article. The case—concerning commission charged for car finance—could cost banks billions, and claims management companies are already hard at work fishing for customers.

The authors review the legal issues involved, and outline the most likely areas of reform. They write that the case ‘exposed vulnerabilities in the financial services sector, prompting a re-evaluation of compliance and customer trust. It underscores the need for robust consumer protection measures and regulatory compliance’. 

MOVERS & SHAKERS

Charles Russell Speechlys—Matthew Griffin

Charles Russell Speechlys—Matthew Griffin

Firm strengthens international funds capability with senior hire

Gilson Gray—Jeremy Davy

Gilson Gray—Jeremy Davy

Partner appointed as head of residential conveyancing for England

DR Solicitors—Paul Edels

DR Solicitors—Paul Edels

Specialist firm enhances corporate healthcare practice with partner appointment

NEWS
The proposed £11bn redress scheme following the Supreme Court’s motor finance rulings is analysed in this week’s NLJ by Fred Philpott of Gough Square Chambers
In this week's issue, Stephen Gold, NLJ columnist and former district judge, surveys another eclectic fortnight in procedure. With humour and humanity, he reminds readers that beneath the procedural dust, the law still changes lives
Generative AI isn’t the villain of the courtroom—it’s the misunderstanding of it that’s dangerous, argues Dr Alan Ma of Birmingham City University and the Birmingham Law Society in this week's NLJ
James Naylor of Naylor Solicitors dissects the government’s plan to outlaw upward-only rent review (UORR) clauses in new commercial leases under Schedule 31 of the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill, in this week's NLJ. The reform, he explains, marks a seismic shift in landlord-tenant power dynamics: rents will no longer rise inexorably, and tenants gain statutory caps and procedural rights
Writing in NLJ this week, James Harrison and Jenna Coad of Penningtons Manches Cooper chart the Privy Council’s demolition of the long-standing ‘shareholder rule’ in Jardine Strategic v Oasis Investments
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