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NLJ this week: Unjust enrichment & the problem with oral agreements

24 March 2023
Issue: 8018 / Categories: Legal News , Commercial , Property
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The Supreme Court decision in Barton v Morris is a landmark case on the interaction between the law of unjust enrichment and the law of contract. 

In this week’s NLJ, Sarah Allan, partner, and Chris Ward, knowledge lawyer, at Pennington Manches Cooper, write that the story behind the case ‘is a paradigm of how things ought not to be done’.

The dispute centred on an oral agreement for one party to act as broker in a commercial property sale. Allan and Ward write: ‘There being no written contract, Judge Pearce had to rely on witness evidence to determine what the parties had agreed some five years prior to the High Court hearing in June 2018.’

The authors look at the case and its implications in detail here.

MOVERS & SHAKERS

Freeths—Ruth Clare

Freeths—Ruth Clare

National real estate team bolstered by partner hire in Manchester

Farrer & Co—Claire Gordon

Farrer & Co—Claire Gordon

Partner appointed head of family team

mfg Solicitors—Neil Harrison

mfg Solicitors—Neil Harrison

Firm strengthens agriculture and rural affairs team with partner return

NEWS
Conveyancing lawyers have enjoyed a rapid win after campaigning against UK Finance’s decision to charge for access to the Mortgage Lenders’ Handbook
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has launched a recruitment drive for talented early career and more senior barristers and solicitors
Regulators differed in the clarity and consistency of their post-Mazur advice and guidance, according to an interim report by the Legal Services Board (LSB)
The Solicitors Act 1974 may still underpin legal regulation, but its age is increasingly showing. Writing in NLJ this week, Victoria Morrison-Hughes of the Association of Costs Lawyers argues that the Act is ‘out of step with modern consumer law’ and actively deters fairness
A Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) ruling has reopened debate on the availability of ‘user damages’ in competition claims. Writing in NLJ this week, Edward Nyman of Hausfeld explains how the CAT allowed Dr Liza Lovdahl Gormsen’s alternative damages case against Meta to proceed, rejecting arguments that such damages are barred in competition law
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