Law360, London: A group of insurers will challenge test-case litigation over business interruption insurance in connection with the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic at the Court of Appeal in London on 21 January 2025, a hearing that lawyers say could have a long-term impact on disputes over cover.

Law360, London: Wahaca has sued its insurer for allegedly failing to pay out for losses incurred when the Mexican-style restaurant chain was forced to close during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, becoming the latest hospitality business to take its insurer to court.

For information: • on the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) scheme generally, see Practice Note: Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (extended version 1 July to 31 October 2020) [Archived] • on the right to paid holiday, see Practice Notes: Holiday and Holiday pay It is clear from the HMRC guidance: Check if you can claim for your employees’ wages through the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme that an employee can take holiday while they are on furlough. If an employee is flexibly furloughed then any hours taken as holiday during the claim period should be counted as furloughed hours rather than working hours. For further information, see Practice Note: Coronavirus (COVID-19)—holiday

Law360, Expert analysis: The pandemic briefly put criminal trials on hold, but the past year had some big cases that highlighted the need for reform of outdated corporate crime laws, lowered the bar for proving criminal dishonesty and set the scope of new powers to fight the movement of dirty money.

The High Pay Centre has published a report analysing the pay of FTSE 100 executives in 2023. While growth in CEO pay levels have slowed following the post-pandemic bounce, results reveal that the median pay has reached a new high, increasing from £4.1m in 2022 to £4.19m in 2023.

The European Medicines Agency has published its annual report for 2023 on the contribution to science, medicines and health. The report details the Agency’s core work to promote public health within the European Union, and highlights future structures, processes, and new technologies built throughout the COVID-19 pandemic aiming to assist implement the upcoming revision of the EU’s pharmaceutical legislation.

ARCHIVED: This Practice Note has been archived and is not maintained. This archived Practice Note introduced the key implications that property practitioners should consider in relation to the coronavirus pandemic, including the protections to assist tenants during this period introduced by the Coronavirus Act 2020 (CA 2020), the compulsory closure of premises and the impact on commercial leases, residential conveyancing, and the real estate finance market. It is not maintained and is for background information only. For guidance on the Commercial Rent (Coronavirus) Act 2022 (CR(C)A 2022), see Practice Note: Rent arrears recovery under the Commercial Rent (Coronavirus) Act 2022 [Archived]. See also Practice Note: Quick guide to landlord’s coronavirus (COVID-19) remedies [Archived]. This archived Practice Note also covered execution issues in property transactions, business rates, the impact on HM Land Registry, the procedure for possession claims, guidance notes that were issued about the operation of the First-tier Tribunal (Property Chamber) (FTT) and the Upper Tribunal (Lands Chamber) (UT) during the coronavirus outbreak, the impact of the Corporate Insolvency and Governance Act 2020 (CIGA 2020)

Types of LNG sale and purchase agreements Liquefied natural gas (LNG) is commonly traded as a portfolio commodity, in which a participant may break up several long-term sales agreements into short-term transactions to optimise transport costs and balance supply obligations with market conditions. The LNG industry also maintains its own spot-trading market, in which cargoes are bought and sold through competitive tenders and brokered trades. Alternatively, swap arrangements (under which two buyers or two sellers agree to swap cargoes) is another trading model becoming more common in the LNG industry. The common types of LNG sale and purchase agreements are: • short-term sales agreements—one to five-year bilateral agreements, often with little flexibility of terms • master agreements—a popular arrangement under which seller and buyer sign an agreement that sets out the general terms under which they will buy and sell LNG, without committing the parties to an obligation to actually buy or sell specific quantities. When the parties wish to transact, they will complete a supplementary ‘confirmation notice’, deemed to include the general terms of the master

Local Government analysis: The court dismissed an application by the homeless person, Ms Merritt (the claimant) for an interim injunction requiring the local authority and managing agent to re-admit them to the property. The claimant had been allowed to occupy the property pending a review of the local authority’s decision that it had discharged its housing duty towards them. The court held that there was no serious issue to be tried that the local authority had let or licensed the property to the claimant ‘as a dwelling’ as they were unable to distinguish the decision of the Supreme Court in R(N) v Lewisham. The court granted a cross-application from the managing agent for an interim injunction requiring the claimant to vacate the property, but suspended its operation until the expiry of the Public Health (Coronavirus) (Protection from Eviction) (England) Regulations 2021 (the 2021 Regulations). Written by Matt Hutchings QC, barrister at Cornerstone Barristers.

Restructuring & Insolvency analysis: We look at what steps Japan has taken in light of the coronavirus (COVI-19) pandemic. Written by Yosuke Kanegae, a restructuring partner in the Tokyo Office of Nagashima Ohno & Tsunematsu and author of the Japan chapter in the Asian Business Law Institute (ABLI)’s publication, Corporate Restructuring and Insolvency in Asia 2020.

Law360: The Labour Party promised to create a new coronavirus (COVID-19) corruption tsar and use 'every means possible' to recoup public money lost in fraud and failed contracts during the pandemic, as it launched its general election manifesto on 13 June 2024.

The Insolvency Service has published its monthly insolvency statistics for May 2024 on company and individual insolvencies. The data shows that 2,006 company insolvencies were registered, 21% lower than in May 2023 and higher than during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and between 2014 and 2019. For individuals, the total number of insolvencies in May 2024 was 9,266, 3% higher than in May 2023.