header-logo header-logo

The insider: 29 March & 5 April 2024

29 March 2024 / Dominic Regan
Issue: 8065 / Categories: Opinion , Litigation funding , In Court
printer mail-detail
166028
Litigation funders rejoice as the Lords step in to solve their woes. Dominic Regan serves up the inside story on this, as well as some particularly thrilling judgments

Rejoice! On 19 March the Litigation Funding Agreements (Enforceability) Bill was introduced in the House of Lords (HL Bill 56). Litigation funders and those whom they backed had a fit of the vapours after the Supreme Court judgment last summer in R (on the application of PACCAR Inc and others) v Competition Appeal Tribunal and others [2023] UKSC 28, [2023] 4 All ER 675. By a majority of four to one it decided that litigation funding agreements (LFAs) in which the fees of the funder were calculated by reference to a cut of the damages recovered were in law damages-based agreements (DBAs). The dissentient was Lady Rose, the one member of the court with first-hand experience of the Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT), having chaired it from 2005 to 2013, and again from 2015 to 2019.

The best-known case funded in

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

Boies Schiller Flexner—Tim Smyth

Boies Schiller Flexner—Tim Smyth

Firm promotes London international arbitration specialist to partnership

Katten Muchin Rosenman—James Davison & Victoria Procter

Katten Muchin Rosenman—James Davison & Victoria Procter

Firm bolsters restructuring practice with senior London hires

HFW—Guy Marrison

HFW—Guy Marrison

Global aviation disputes practice boosted by London partner hire

NEWS
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
A construction defect claim in the Court of Appeal offers a sharp lesson in pleading discipline. In his latest 'Civil way' column for NLJ, Stephen Gold explains how a catastrophically drafted schedule of loss derailed otherwise viable claims. Across the areas explored in this week's column, the message is consistent: clarity, economy and proper pleading matter more than ever
back-to-top-scroll