A&O Shearman on contract law

The High Court has allowed litigation to proceed even though it was in breach of a mandatory alternative dispute resolution clause in a contract.

Imagine thinking you had just become a millionaire - only for your expected prize to be taken away due to a coding error.

The court has looked at a “hindrance” on paying a debt in the context of a force majeure clause and whether a sanctions clause or the general law of sanctions excused payment.

The High Court has held a limitation clause in a research agreement would be effective to limit liability for dishonesty, though not fraudulent misrepresentation.

The High Court has ruled that English law does not recognise a doctrine that deems conditions precedent to a debt as having been fulfilled where the reason they have not been is the fault of the person that would owe the debt, so as to make the debt be payable in full.