Commercial Litigation Round-Up – April 2024

Over a series of short articles, I intend to examine ways in which legal advisers in the field of trusts and tax can methodically minimise risk in the way that they advise.

This comprehensive guide examines the procedural framework of LCIA arbitration from commencement through enforcement, analyzing strategic decisions at each stage including tribunal formation, document production, interim relief mechanisms, and cost allocation.

Meta has agreed to pay up to $18 billion over 10 years to settle claims by 52 US state and territory attorneys general in the largest state consumer-protection settlement in American history outside tobacco. The settlement imposes binding child-safety obligations including time limits and age assurance, but leaves the core algorithmic feed unchanged and raises questions about whether this represents genuine accountability or a commercially managed outcome.

A High Court ruling examines a contentious dispute between a video game developer and publisher over milestone-based funding and "step in" rights for the first-person shooter Six Days in Fallujah. With over $50 million in development costs at stake and allegations of conspiracy to acquire proprietary source code, the court declined to grant either party interim control of the game's development, leaving both sides without the "keys to the kingdom" pending a full trial.

The decision makes it very clear that the consequences for lawyers who breach their professional obligations by misusing AI are likely to be serious.

The Commercial Court ruled on a USD 29 million dispute over an LNG carrier charterparty's index-linked pricing formula, determining whether the "JKM-TTF spread" operated bidirectionally or only when JKM exceeded TTF. The decision examines how unprecedented market conditions—where European gas prices surged above Asian prices due to the Ukraine war—tested the contractual formula's application and whether rectification could remedy an alleged drafting oversight.

Although the new UK Bribery Act 2010 (the "Bribery Act") is similar in many respects to the existing anti-bribery provisions of the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act of 1977 (as amended) ("FCPA"), overall, the Bribery Act is considered to be broader and more robust than the FCPA.

During a criminal investigation, there will often be a vast amount of information obtained and considered by the police. When charges are brought, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) may disclose some of this information as evidence, serving it as witness statements and exhibits.

This edition focuses on rulings issued between February 16, 2018, and June 15, 2018.

A split-second decision can change lives forever. In one-punch manslaughter cases, a single impulsive blow, perhaps thrown in anger, fear or misguided bravado, leads to a tragic death. These ‘death by a single punch’ incidents are more common in the UK than many realise. Dozens of families every year are left devastated, with one family grieving an unimaginable loss, and another family shocked and fearful as their loved one faces a homicide investigation for an outcome no one intended. It’s a tragic reality, one moment of anger, one fatal assault involving a single blow, and two lives (and families) ruined.