This question raises two complex and legally difficult issues, as follows: • first, whether the common law principles of vicarious liability apply in respect of an alleged breach of the General Data Protection Regulation, Regulation (EU) 2016/679 (GDPR) and/or for misuse of private information and breach of confidence; and, if so, • second, does vicarious liability apply in circumstances in which an employee has stolen data from the employer, without the employer’s knowledge or consent The relevant questions have very recently been addressed by the Supreme Court in the case of WM Morrison Supermarkets plc v Various Claimants. This was the case in which a disgruntled employee of the supermarket copied the personal, payroll data of 126,000 employees and published it on the internet. This was found to be because of an ‘irrational

Where the parties are contracting on the basis of an unamended JCT Design and Build Contract 2011 or 2016, the standard of care to be exercised by the Contractor in relation to the design is reasonable skill and care. This arises because the contract provides that the Contractor has the same liability

There is a specific definition in financial remedy proceedings, for the purpose of the below High Court judge level efficiency statement, in which a position statement is the generic term for any form of written submission by an advocate, including a skeleton argument (Statement on the efficient conduct of financial remedy hearings in the Financial Remedies Court below High Court judge level (11 January 2022), para 24). In such proceedings position statements should: • be concise and the below High Court judge level efficiency statement provides for the following page limits, while not derogating from the limits in FPR 2010, PD 27A, para 5.2A.1, which should be regarded as a maximum: ◦ for the first appointment, six pages (including any attached schedules) ◦ for any other interim hearing, eight pages (including any attached schedules) ◦ for the FDR hearing, 12 pages, excluding agreed documents (ie the composite case summary, composite schedule of assets and composite chronology), but including any other attached schedules, and ◦ for the

Power The statutory power to override easements and other rights is contained in section 203 of the Housing and Planning Act 2016 (HPA 2016). A wider list of public authorities and regeneration agencies can avail themselves of the power to override private easements. This includes Homes England, the Greater London Authority, statutory undertakers, the highways authority and housing action trusts, provided that they have statutory powers that would enable them to compulsorily purchase the land for building or maintenance works. There are limitations, such that a developer can only avail themselves of the benefit of the appropriation if it gives effect to the planning purposes

Where a landlord successfully opposes the grant of a new tenancy under the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954 (LTA 1954) on one of the grounds which does not involve default by the tenant (grounds (e), (f) and (g)), the landlord must pay a sum by way of compensation to the tenant. The precise circumstances in which the entitlement to compensation arises are fourfold: • by LTA 1954, s 37(1A), where there is an application to the court for a new tenancy under LTA 1954, s 24 and the court is precluded from ordering the grant of a new tenancy on

In light of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and the government’s guidance relating to social distancing and staying at home, HMRC has relaxed its rules relating to conditionally exempt property. Heritage property usually open to the public Where the owner of a heritage property was not able to open to the public for a sufficient number of days in 2020, HMRC will not consider that the terms of conditional exemption have been broken, even if it means that some of the period covered by the agreement is missed or the property was not open at all in 2020. HMRC initially indicated that it would expect the property to be open later in 2020 to make up for any lost days, if possible. However, if this was not possible, additional open days in 2021 would not be expected to make up for missed days in 2020. The guidance was updated in December 2020 to confirm that the terms of conditional

Hourly rates Solicitors can charge any hourly rate they wish for their services. However, they will not necessarily recover those rates at a costs assessment. When looking at the hourly rates you have charged, the court will consider them in conjunction with the Guideline Hourly Rates (GHR) (see Guideline hourly rates (prior to October 2021)—checklist [Archived]). The GHRs are intended to assist judges in carrying out summary assessment but they are widely used as a starting point by

This Q&A looks at the impact of Brexit on cross-border transfers of personal data involving the UK and EEA, under the General Data Protection Regulation, Regulation (EU) 2016/679 (GDPR). It does not address cross-border transfers of personal data by competent authorities for law enforcement purposes or by the intelligence services, and under the ‘applied GDPR’ regime, which are beyond the scope of this Q&A. Since 25 May 2018, the GDPR has been directly applicable in the UK and all other EU Member States. The GDPR regime has also been incorporated in the EEA Agreement and governs the processing of personal data across the EEA (the EU plus Iceland, Norway, and Liechtenstein). The GDPR regime permits EEA states to introduce certain national derogations. In the UK those have been implemented by the Data Protection Act 2018, see Practice Note: The Data Protection Act 2018. Chapter V of the GDPR regime imposes a restriction which prevents personal data from being transferred to ‘third countries’ outside the EEA. These transfer

As with most aspects of Brexit, we are yet to ascertain the precise impact of the UK’s impending exit from the EU on cross-border VAT and Customs duty, so for now it is business as usual. In the event Brexit results in the UK leaving the EU Single Market (which encompasses the EU's 28 Member States as well as (with exceptions) Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway through the Agreement on the European Economic Area and Switzerland through bilateral treaties) and the UK’s borders retreating to its territorial limits, all arrivals of goods in the UK from

At the moment, none. Brexit may eventually alter the way in which tax covenants and warranties are negotiated and drafted but, until we know more as to what exactly Brexit will entail, there is no effect on the current approach. Even when the details of Brexit are known, the principles underlying the tax covenant should not change. For example, when considering the risk of a change in law, the accepted market practice that the buyer bears the risk of any changes in law after Completion that apply retrospectively and which cause or increase a pre-completion covenant liability shouldn’t be disturbed. It is unlikely that Brexit will result in any genuine retrospective changes in law. However, the sometimes

In conducting our research we have focussed on public procurement under the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 (PCR 2015), SI 2015/102. How does Brexit impact public procurement? The UK public procurement regime derives from EU public procurement laws and is therefore impacted by Brexit. The EU public procurement regime consists of a package of directives that govern procedures for the award by governments, public authorities and utilities of public contracts over specified financial thresholds for supplies of works, goods and services. Public procurement in the UK is regulated by rules and legislation emanating from the EU. These rules derive from the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (which lays down general principles applicable to public procurement exercises, including the principles of transparency, equal treatment and non-discrimination) and the EU directives on public procurement as implemented in domestic law. These directives are implemented in UK domestic law via secondary legislation introduced under the European Communities Act 1972, which will be repealed on exit day under the European Union

None, provided the loan agreement is in Loan Market Association (LMA) standard form. The tax gross-up and indemnity clauses (and their accompanying definitions) are based in UK domestic and international treaty law, not EU law, so Brexit should have no effect on them. The stamp taxes clause (based on UK domestic law) and FATCA clause (grounded in US law and the UK/US inter-governmental agreement as reflected through UK domestic law) are similarly unaffected. While VAT is an EU formulated tax, and one might therefore expect the VAT clause to be impacted, this should not be the