Welcome to the Egi Legal newsletter. The row between Fladgate and LandSec over the Park House scheme in London’s Oxford Street last week took an interesting turn in the Court of Appeal that could have wide ramifications for the litigation world .Forward to a friend | View as a webpage | Add us to your white list
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The week
An abuse of process?

The row between Fladgate and LandSec over the Park House scheme in London’s Oxford Street last week took an interesting turn in the Court of Appeal that could have wide ramifications for the litigation world.

The court was considering LandSec’s argument that because the “dominant purpose” behind Fladgate’s judicial review challenge to the scheme was to “extract money”, which objective did not come within the scope of judicial review proceedings, it was an abuse of process.

As Mummery, Moore-Bick and Etherton LJJ got their legal teeth into the issues, they encountered many common legal situations that display “mixed motives” for bringing litigation, which, on LandSec’s analysis, may be susceptible to a claim for abuse of process.

Some of the situations involved intellectual property disputes, where competitors seek to cause maximum damage to each other, boundary disputes, where someone simply dislikes his neighbour and wants him or her to move, and business disputes that arise from personal enmity and a desire for revenge.

Mummery LJ raised an interesting point about so-called gagging orders that are obtained to stop someone from reporting something that is true.

He mentioned the case of Robert Maxwell, who regularly sued people to prevent them from speaking the truth about him.

Mummery LJ said that such a case could constitute an abuse of process because “the purpose of defamation proceedings is not to stop people telling the truth”.

Recent public interest in gagging orders and the wide ramifications that a decision in LandSec’s favour may have means that the judgment will be eagerly awaited.


Legal commentary
bullet Law of limitation: Bryan Johnston and Chidi Egbochue consider proposals to change the law of limitation and its effect on the construction industry.

bullet Q&A: Peter Levaggi and Peter Arden answer questions on distress.

bullet Mainly for students: Peta Dollar explains why side letters can cause problems if they are badly drafted.

bullet Practice notes: Beverley Firth examines the Conservative Party’s policy to abolish regional spatial strategies.

bullet Legal notes: John Murdoch reviews OFT v Foxtons and the issue of unfair terms in estate agents’ contracts.

bullet Planning practice points: John Martin reviews recent cases and developments, including the Competition Commission’s recommendations to introduce a defined competition test to grocery retail planning applications and the High Court case of Brentwood BC v Ball, which concerned a claim for injunctive relief in respect of planning control breaches.

bullet Conveyancing and landlord and tenant practice points: Allyson Colby reviews recent cases and legislative developments, including Littlewood v Radford, which concerned negligence by a surveyor.

Case material
bullet Law reports: This week’s law report is Workspace Management Ltd v YJL London Ltd, which concerned a claim to enforce a costs award made by an arbitrator.

bullet Case summaries: Cases reported at summaries included Dennis v Davies, in which the Court of Appeal considered whether proposed building works would fall foul of a restrictive covenant against creating a nuisance, and R (Boggis) v Natural England which determined whether Natural England's designation of a site as an SSSI was unlawful.

Legislation tracker: draft Bills
bullet The Law Commission Bill reached the report a and third reading stage in the Commons on 16 October. The private members’ bill contains provisions relating to the work of the Law Commission and amends the Law Commission Act 1965.

Legislation tracker: statutory instruments
bullet The RTM Companies (Model Articles)(England) Regulations 2009 come into force on 9 November. They prescribe the form and content of the articles of association of RTM companies and provide that the articles take effect for an RTM company whether or not it adopts the articles set out in the Schedule. The regulations revoke the RTM Companies (Memorandum and Articles of Association)(England) Regulations 2003, subject to transitional provisions.

 
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