Blog
Kingsley Napley’s Medical Negligence Team ‘walks together’ with the Dame Vera Lynn Children’s Charity
Sharon Burkill
10 February 2023
Contesting a will if fraud, theft or forgery is involved
It has been widely reported in the mainstream media this week that a Mr Stewart Pearman has been jailed for over five years for trying to steal more than £2 million left by a friend to an air ambulance charity before her death by cancer in 2016. Mr Pearman had been bequeathed £25,000 by his friend in her Will made in 2014 but shortly before her death forged a document that declared he was the sole executor and main beneficiary of her estate.
18 January 2023
Trust and Estate Disputes Quarterly Round-Up: Q4 2022
This quarterly contentious trust and probate litigation update provides a summary of a cross-section of reported decisions handed down in the courts of England and Wales in the period October 2022 - December 2022.
17 January 2023
Civil Fraud Quarterly Round-Up: Q4 2022
This quarterly civil fraud update provides a summary of reported decisions handed down in the courts of England and Wales in the period October - December 2022.
11 January 2023
Has the privilege ship sailed for parties who attempt to mislead the court following Lakatamia Shipping Co authority?
The power to override privilege is an exceptional remedy, one that was used in the case of Lakatamia Shipping Co Ltd and others v Su and others [2022] EWHC 3115 (Comm), in which the court ordered the release to a claimant of correspondence between the defendant and his lawyers, applying the fraud or iniquity exception to legal professional privilege. This was a case of exceptional circumstances in which the defendant had carried out one of the most serious campaigns of contempt before the English courts.
10 January 2023
Make 2023 the year hourly rates are recovered in full
Much has been said about the Guideline Hourly Rates (GHR) following Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd v LG Display Co. Ltd [2022] EWCA Civ 466 and Athena Capital Fund v Secretariat of State for the Holy See [2022] EWCA Civ 1061. Paying parties rely on them and Judges at summary assessment feel bound to follow them, despite the potential damage they could do to the profession’s reputation in London given how the GHR compare to the market. However, there are positives and lessons to learn from these decisions.
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