Alejandro Worthington considers the issue of administrators being discharged from liability following the conclusion of the administration

“All cats are animals, but all animals are not cats” - former administrators’ attempt to stop £18.6M misfeasance claim based upon their CVA release clause, fails in a provisional ruling: Re Rhino Enterprise Properties Limited [2020] EWHC 2370 (Ch)

In this blog Nicola Wainwright, a specialist clinical negligence solicitor at JMW based out of our London office, discusses the long overdue reform needed to the NHS complaints process and the consultation that is currently underway to try to achieve this.

In recent years, ancestry sites have made home DNA testing readily accessible and increasingly common. In some households, it has even become part of a school project. Whilst for many, it has led to a fascinating insight into their history, for some, it has led to bombshell discoveries that their biological heritage and/or familial relationships are not what they had understood them to be. We have been consulted by a number of individuals and families looking to unpick the confusion and uncertainty caused by the discovery of a different biological ‘family’ to the one they have known, and stories across the media are increasingly common. There can be no doubt that such sites are changing, and indeed removing, the ability to conceal someone’s genetic origins. Whilst the scientific truth can be quick and easy to ascertain, the emotional impact can be a much more involved process.

There are 43 junctions on the M4 between London and Swansea. At the time of writing, the journey from Hammersmith by road is estimated to take a little over 3 hours. On Friday and Sunday evenings, the peak of child arrangement transport, you might as well add at an hour or two. Close to junction 20 is the Bristol Family court from where this month a message to the family law world and beyond was sent by the decision of HHJ Wildblood QC to release his judgement in Re B (a child) (Unnecessary Private Law Applications).

Divorce in Dubai and the UAE: Meet the New Law, Same as the Old Law? Reports in The National, a regional Middle East newspaper suggest that “sweeping changes” are coming to family law for expatriates and that “Islamic law, or sharia, would rarely be used when it comes to cases for non-citizens”.  It is reported, “A couple, of any religion, that chooses to divorce in the UAE will have their proceedings dictated by the country in which they are married”. So far so good. However, Article 1 of the (UAE) Federal Law No 28 of 2005 for Personal Affairs already allows non-Muslims to apply the laws of their own country to divorce, with priority given to the law of the state of the husband at the time the marriage was contracted. My understanding is that this article was primarily aimed at the possibility of applying the nuances of the different schools of Islamic jurisprudence, which made a good deal of sense. When it came to non-Muslim expatriates, anecdotally, there are few examples to be had of foreign law being applied.

On 31 January 2020, having ratified the Withdrawal Agreement, the UK departed the EU and entered into a transition period, which is due to end on 31 December 2020.

The Court of Appeal was asked to consider two key points (together with matters, including relating to the granting of summary judgment) regarding the procedural aspects of applications in insolvency proceedings. The relevant proceedings were issued by the trustees in bankruptcy of Nicola Ide (the “Trustees”).

Cory Bebb looks at the latest (unsuccessful) creditors’ attack on administrators, including findings on whether ‘Objective C’ can be pursued if there will be a distribution to non-preferential unsecured creditors.

Occasionally shareholders meetings can become fraught, and when faced with hostile shareholders it is not unknown for chairmen to declare a meeting over and just leave – particularly where resolutions they don’t want passing are to be considered.

Since 2004 EU Member States which want to prosecute or imprison someone who is in another Member State have been able to take advantage of the European Arrest Warrant (EAW), a streamlined system for extradition. The statistics reveal the success of the system: Prior to the invention of the EAW fewer than 60 people a year were extradited, yet after the system came into force there were 1,865 extradition requests rising to 15,540 in 2018/19.

Yet again the government picked Friday evening, before a bank holiday weekend, to make changes to the possession process for residential property. This was the, widely expected, change to the notice periods for section 8 and 21 notices, which I am going to focus on as well as notice periods for other residential tenancy types which are mainly for the social sector.

Slightly unexpectedly today (10 September) Robert Jenrick, Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government announced further restrictions on landlord possession claims.

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has published a new campaign page and guide on unlawful cartels and price fixing.

The Right to Rent scheme was substantially updated recently through The Immigration (Residential Accommodation) (Prescribed Requirements and Codes of Practice) (Amendments) Order 2020 and accompanying Revised Code of Practice. The new version comes into force on 2 November 2020.

We have recently been approached by several property management clients with concerns caused by letters received from the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) indicating that they should be registered with the ICO and paying a relevant data protection fee. However, it is not unequivocally the case that all property managers must register.