Weekly law digests

Global Corporate Ltd v Hale [2018] EWCA Civ 2618, [2018] All ER (D) 146 (Nov)

The judge had erred in concentrating on the intention or state of mind of the directors when authorising disputed payments as dividends, rather than on the payments themselves, where the claimant was seeking to recover money paid as dividends by a company to the respondent company director. Accordingly, the Court of Appeal, Civil Division, allowed the claimant’s appeal and also gave guidance on the correct approach to the questioning of witnesses by a trial judge.

Disclosure & inspection of documents

Sotheby’s v Mark Weiss Ltd and others [2018] EWHC 3179 (Comm), [2018] All ER (D) 135 (Nov)

The application of the first defendant company for inspection of certain documents succeeded, in a dispute concerning the sale of an allegedly counterfeit painting. The Commercial Court held that the correspondence, which was between the claimant auction house and two art experts, had not been brought into existence for the ‘dominant purpose’ of being used in contemplated litigation and hence would