Summary Insurers were liable to indemnify a home-owner under the terms of an insurance policy for fire damage to his property where the likely cause of the fire was a cigarette accidentally discarded by a lodger, as opposed to the home owner's spouse deliberately starting the fire. Facts The claimant...

Summary A claim that the defendants had dishonestly assisted a third party in committing a breach of fiduciary duty represented an abuse of process given that the relevant factual allegations had been determined against the claimant in arbitration proceedings between it and the third party. There could be no rule...

Summary The claimant Russian businessman failed to prove any binding agreement that he was to have an interest in a Russian oil company or a Russian aluminium company. Facts The claimant (B) sued the defendant (D) claiming that he had an interest in two substantial Russian companies, Sibneft, an oil...

Summary The court granted an interim injunction preventing the purchaser of a painting from selling it without first giving notice to the previous owner where the previous owner had an arguable case that the painting remained vested in him because the purported sale was unauthorised and therefore void. Facts The...

Summary A limited liability partnership which had provided a bridging loan to finance a concert was entitled to recover the full amount due from the concert organiser. Under the terms of a debenture, the lender was entitled to existing and future copyright in sound and film recordings of the concert...

Summary The claimant had established that a painting bought by it at an auction by Christie's was a forgery; it was entitled to a refund under a limited warranty given by Christie's, but the latter's conditions of sale barred the claimant's claims in negligence and misrepresentation. Facts The claimant company ...

Summary Where a claimant had served a notice of discontinuance in error, it had been open to it to invoke the court's jurisdiction under CPR r.3.10 to correct that error; it could not be said that r.38.5(2) clearly intended to restrict the setting aside of notices of discontinuance to those...

Summary Although administrators' costs were generally justified as the point upon which they sought directions required a definitive answer, their retention of leading counsel where two other leading counsel had been retained was clearly inappropriate. Accordingly, the administrators' costs of briefing leading counsel were disallowed. Facts The court was required...

Summary A company which had lost £2 million by investing in a scheme involving the purchase of a plot of land succeeded in its claim for fraudulent misrepresentation against several defendants who had been involved in the promotion or operation of the scheme. Facts The claimant company (L) brought a claim...