Apple Challenges Funding Deal In £853M Battery Class Action

By Lucia Osborne-Crowley

Apple sought on Wednesday to ax an £853 million ($1.1 billion) collective action accusing the tech giant of concealing problems with batteries, arguing that the class representative had unlawfully agreed to prioritize paying the litigation-funder over the other claimants.

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Analysis

Enablers In The Spotlight As First Al-Fayed Claims Emerge

By Adele Redmond

Employers that allow sexual misconduct to go unpunished in the workplace are increasingly likely to be held liable, lawyers warn, as five women who worked for the late billionaire Mohamed Al-Fayed launch claims against his estate.

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'Snow White' Email Shows Staley's Ties To Epstein, FCA Says

By Christopher Crosby

The inability of former Barclays boss Jes Staley to remember "now infamous" emails with Jeffrey Epstein undermines his credibility and his attempts to overturn his ban for lying about his ties to the sex offender, the Financial Conduct Authority said Wednesday.

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Consumers Tell UK Justices Car Dealers Owe Transparency

By Joanne Faulkner

Consumers bringing a test case on motor finance commissions told the U.K. Supreme Court in a hearing Wednesday that car dealers arranging financing for the purchase of vehicles were acting as "classic" credit brokers and owed a duty to act in borrowers' best interest.

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Class Rep Says Appeal Court Entitled To Allow £2.7B FX Claim

By Sophia Dourou

A class representative said Wednesday that the Court of Appeal was entitled to allow a £2.7 billion ($3.5 billion) foreign exchange claim to go ahead as an opt-out class action, arguing Britain's specialist competition tribunal was wrong to effectively end the proceedings.

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Ex-Metro Bank CFO Followed Legal Advice Over £900M Error

By Ronan Barnard

Metro Bank PLC's former chief financial officer, David Arden, said at a London tribunal Wednesday that he had followed legal advice when preparing to publish a market announcement at the center of a £900 million ($1.1 billion) reporting scandal, arguing he and the bank's former chief executive officer should not face "career-ending allegations" for doing so.

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Developer Sues Law Firm For £5M Over Failed London Project

By Eddie Beaver

A conveyancing law firm has been hit with a £5.1 million ($6.6 million) negligence claim from a property developer that alleges the solicitors scuppered the company's plan to redevelop its four-story building in southwest London.

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Royal Mail Database IP Claim Gets Off To Rocky Start

By Alex Baldwin

Royal Mail Group and the operator of an address search website argued Wednesday that software firm Codeberry Ltd. copied millions of addresses from the courier's postcode data without permission, as the High Court case opened without counsel for defendants.

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Paddington Bear Owner Sues Souvenir Seller Over Copyright

By William Janes

The owner of Paddington Bear has hit a souvenir wholesaler with a copyright infringement claim in a London court, accusing it of using copies of the iconic bear on products without its permission.

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Safestand Wins Appeal To Protect Scaffolding Design

By Hanna Vioque

An appellate judge on Wednesday reinstated a scaffolding manufacturer's three registered designs for builders' trestles, ruling that its many components all formed a single product rather than several alternative goods.

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Toy Seller Denies Copying Rival's 'Paw Bear' IP

By Hanna Vioque

A toy seller has fought back against claims that it copied a teddy bear design to steal customers, arguing that its rival was not the first company to give the stuffed animals a neck bow and rough patches.

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Taxing School Fees Doesn't Restrict Choice, Gov't Tells Court

By Josh White

The U.K. did not break human rights law by imposing 20% value-added tax on private school fees because families can still access education through other options, the government told a London court.

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Ex-Ryanair Pilot Fights 'Fiction' Of Contractor Status In Appeal

By Adele Redmond

A former pilot for Ryanair told the Court of Appeal on Wednesday that his contractor status was a "fiction" as he fought efforts from the airline and a staffing company to overturn rulings that he is entitled to equal conditions with Ryanair's directly employed staff.

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Gov't Confirms Major Delays For NHS Workers In Pension Fix

By Martin Croucher

The government has admitted that hundreds of thousands of people receiving a National Health Service pension will need to wait nearly two years to see their benefits potentially increase.

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Management Biz. Loses Costs Bid Over Consultant's Theft

By Hanna Vioque

An employment tribunal has refused to force a director to pay the £12,060 ($15,645) that a workforce management firm incurred in defending his claims of unfair dismissal, ruling he didn't sue vexatiously.

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Hospital Operator To Pay £54K For Firing Disabled Worker

By Tabitha Burbidge

An employment tribunal has ruled that U.K. hospital operator Circle Health must pay its former pathology coordinator over £54,000 ($70,000) after it found that her former employer sacked her without attempting to accommodate her postpartum health condition.

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Google Win Illustrates Hurdles To Mass Data Privacy Claims

The Court of Appeal's December decision in Prismall v. Google, holding each claimant in a mass data privacy suit must demonstrate an individualized and sufficiently serious injury, demonstrates the difficulty of using representative action to collect damages for misused private information, say lawyers at Seladore Legal.

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