Shutterstock The Rolls Building, Royal Courts of Justice, London An eagerly anticipated test case on coronavirus-related litigation starts in London this week Test case litigation for business-related Covid-19 insurance claims that could pave the way to billions of pounds in business interruption payouts to impacted policyholders starts in the High Court today. The case is being brought by the Financial Conduct Authority, the UK financial services regulator, and seeks clarity on the interpretation of business interruption (BI) insurance policies for both policyholders and insurers by judicially testing 17 representative wordings.  The case, fast-tracked to be heard in the […]

The government is not trying to permanently change the way the courts work by extending operating hours to clear the backlog, the lord chancellor has said. Robert Buckland and HM Courts & Tribunals Service chief Susan Acland-Hood were questioned about the controversial measure by the House of Lords constitution committee yesterday. From practitioners’ point of view, Acland-Hood said it should not be the case that their hours are extended. ‘We are not expecting anyone to work extremely long, whole days in court. It’s court buildings hours that we want to extend.’ Under the plan, sitting times might be staggered. HMCTS […]

Image copyright Janice Dunphy Image caption Janice Dunphy, owner of the Web Adventure Park indoor play centre As the nation gradually unlocks, nightclubs and soft play centres still don’t know when it will be their turn to reopen. “On Friday there was the devastating news that everybody else apart from ourselves and nightclubs could open,” says Janice Dunphy, owner of the Web Adventure Park indoor play centre in York. “We’ve been closed now 133 days so it’s really difficult to accept,” she told BBC Radio 5 Live’s Wake Up To Money. Indoor play centres, along with nightclubs, have not yet […]

Approximately 230,000 of Britain’s self-employed continue to be excluded from any Government support because they have had trading profits of £50,000 or more in the last three years. Campaigners are calling on the Chancellor to step in and remove their exclusion from the Self Employment Income Support Scheme, when he makes a summer statement to the House of Commons tomorrow. There are hundreds of thousands of sole traders that have not had any income since March, whereas employees on the furlough scheme can get up to £2,500 per month even if they earn more than £50,000 a year. From plumbers […]

Home > Articles Hannah Gomersall, barrister, and Srishti Suresh, pupil barrister, both of Coram Chambers, review the government’s proposed changes to the family courts in response to the experiences of domestic abuse victims.     Hannah Gomersall, barrister, and Srishti Suresh, pupil barrister, both of Coram Chambers On Thursday, 25 June 2020, the government published the much anticipated panel report Assessing risk of harm to children and parents in private law children cases. It is a lengthy document, running to some 216 pages and was accompanied by the government’s short “implementation plan“, setting out responses to the recommendations made. The […]

With many people losing their jobs or in furlough limbo due to the coronavirus pandemic, it’s tough to know what’s around the corner. For some, it may be an opportunity to go it alone in business, using expertise, experience and contacts garnered over the years. Job fears could even be the push they need to finally follow their dreams. The number one piece of advice for anyone setting up alone is usually to have a business plan, but just as important is having your own personal plan of how to get ahead and capitalise on your skills, knowledge and network. […]

After decades of campaigning, predominantly by family law practitioners, The Divorce, Dissolution and Separation Bill finally received Royal assent and became an Act of Parliament on 25 June 2020. In the biggest shake-up of divorce laws for 50 years, the move towards “no fault divorce” is long overdue, and a welcome change which is aimed at reducing the impact that the requirement to apportion blame in divorce petitions can have on couples and their children. The new law is not expected to come into force until the Autumn of 2021, so, whilst this is a huge leap in the right […]

Extended court hours, Blackstone courts and 1-metre social distancing will still not be enough to get the Crown court backlog to pre-pandemic levels, the chief executive of HM Courts & Tribunals Service has admitted. The backlog reached 40,173 by the end of March, at the height of the coronavirus crisis. It now stands at 41,599. To tackle it, HMCTS is looking at ways it can safely reduce the current 2m social distancing requirement to 1m, use existing court capacity by extending operating hours, and identify buildings that can be used as additional court rooms or space that frees up courtrooms. […]

In a judgment dated 2 April 2020, which only recently became available, a Commercial Court judge took the exceptional step of sentencing four absent respondents to prison for contempt of court (Dell Emerging Markets (EMEA) Ltd and others v Systems Equipment Telecommunications Services SAL and others [2020] EWHC 1384 (Comm)). Whilst the decision is fact-specific, it is also a clear signal that the English courts will not accept the COVID-19 pandemic as a blanket excuse for parties to refuse to engage with proceedings or to defy court orders. Background The four individuals concerned were, at the relevant time, directors and […]

Nandishi Bekah Co-parenting can be challenging even in the best of circumstances. Throw in a global pandemic and you get complete disruption in normalcy and routines that parents crave. With increased security measures put in place to ensure public safety, adjustments between households with shared custody and access arrangements have to be made. During this challenging time, it is important to remember that a child’s well-being is the most important consideration. With tighter restrictions and heightened safety measures, parents are facing new challenges with their co-parenting. “What is co-parenting?” one may ask. At its most basic, co-parenting is the term […]