Supreme Court Upholds Effectiveness Of Clause Requiring Signed Writing

Tony Allen Senior Consultant to CEDR explains what this means for the requirement for written signed agreements for a binding mediated settlement.

In an article I wrote about a year ago under the title "Oral variation of mediation agreements" I expressed concern about the possible effect of several recent decisions on the important standard provision in most well-drafted mediation agreements which requires that, to be binding, settlement terms must be in writing and signed by the parties. Those cases were United Bank Ltd v Asif and World Online Telecom v I-Way Ltd (both appeals from decisions about summary judgment, but decided in opposite ways) which were reviewed fully (albeit technically obiter¹) in Globe Motors Inc v TRW Lucas [2016] EWCA Civ 396. Although all those decisions were about commercial contracts which had provided that any variation of terms had to be in writing and approved by both or all parties for them to take effect, there is an obvious parallel