REUTERS | Toby Melville
February 2, 2016

Atkins v Co-Operative Group: fresh evidence allowed on appeal

It is not often that an appeal raises a question of whether counsel exceeded his or her instructions.

In Atkins v Co-Operative Group, Supperstone J was invited to substitute an order entering judgment on breach of duty, with causation and quantum to be assessed, for the one made by a master at a telephone CMC, which entered judgment on liability with damages to be assessed and ordered an interim payment. The application to set aside the master’s order was made just a week short of five months after the order had been made. The defendant’s case was that counsel had been instructed to admit breach of duty but not causation or quantum, and that this had been heralded to the claimant’s solicitors two months before the original hearing. Continue reading →

REUTERS | Mike Segar
January 28, 2016

C&S Associates v Enterprise Insurance: email exchange is sufficient to vary a contract

The High Court in C&S Associates v Enterprise Insurance has held that a fairly informal exchange of emails was sufficient to vary the terms of a contract where this included a clause providing that any contractual variation had to be in writing and signed by or on behalf of both parties. Continue reading →