In
B v Erinvale, the Royal Court intervened to set aside a decision of the trustee not to make the spouse of the settlor a beneficiary in her own right. The court s decision has implications for trustees and their obligation to act reasonably despite the trustee setting out reasons for its original decision.
Summary
This case concerned an application made by B under Article 51 of the Trusts (Jersey) Law 1984 to be added as a beneficiary of the A Settlement in her own right. B was already a beneficiary of the A Settlement in her capacity as the spouse of the settlor. However, the settlor was in ill health and had issued divorce proceedings, such that B had become concerned about her status as a beneficiary. The trustee had previously resolved not to add B as a beneficiary in her own right and had set out its reasons for not doing so in a detailed minute. However, the Royal Court found that despite the detailed and carefully considered minute, the decision ultimately reached by the
Salam Air SAOC v Latam Airlines Group SA ([2020] EWHC 2414 (Comm)), the Commercial Court:
dismissed Salam Air s application for an injunction against Latam, which sought to prevent Latam making a demand for payment under three letters of credit issued in its favour; and
rejected Salam Air s argument that the COVID-19 pandemic had frustrated the underlying aircraft leases.
Facts
In 2017 Salam Air accepted a delivery of three aircraft from Latam, which were leased to it pursuant to operating lease agreements governed by English law and which it intended to operate from Muscat International Airport, Oman. Each aircraft lease agreement had a six-year term and contained customary dry lease provisions – significantly, a hell or high water obligation to pay rent.
Introduction
Following its exit from the European Union, a key aspect of the United Kingdom s trade policy has been to conclude free trade agreements (FTAs) with other countries and trading blocs (for further details please see Back to basics: free trade agreements ).
To that end, the United Kingdom has been negotiating roll over FTAs to replace the European Union ones.
(1) This includes the most significant of the United Kingdom s FTAs, the Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA), which was concluded with the European Union on 24 December 2020.
A clear benefit of an FTA is the ability for businesses to make use of preferential tariff treatment (ie, reduced or zero tariffs and quotas) when shipping their products between parties to the FTA.
Facts
Dairy Partners was a British producer of kneaded cheeses (eg, mozzarella) for the business market in 23 countries, including the Netherlands. It was a large and well-known player in this market and had been trading under the trade name Dairy Partners since 2007. This phrase also appeared in its logo and in its domain name, dairypartners.co.uk .
DOC was a Dutch company which was the result of a 2016 merger between a Dutch cheese producer and a German dairy producer. It focused on the Benelux and French markets. Since 2016 DOC had been trading under the trade name DOC Dairy Partners. This phrase also appeared in its logo and in its domain name, docdairypartners.nl .
In November 2020 the Supreme Court issued a decision significantly affecting the review of arbitration clauses by the Czech courts. The court touched on situations when an arbitration clause leaves the appointment of arbitrators to an independent appointing authority (private arbitration centres).(1)
Facts
The case concerned an arbitration clause which stated that all disputes arising from the contract would be resolved by a single arbitrator appointed by the agent of a specified limited liability company. The first-instance court nevertheless refused to refer to arbitration a dispute based on the underlying contract, stating that appointing authorities such as private arbitration centres cannot be considered independent. Unlike permanent arbitration courts, these centres organise arbitration hearings