Commercial litigation / arbitration:
Track record
Asset recovery - UK, Cyprus, Switzerland, Greece
Breach of Contract - UK and USA
Company Directors' duties - UK
Credit card processing - UK, Germany, Gibraltar
Joint Venture dispute - UK, Switzerland, Mongolia
Offshore Regulation - Jersey, UAE, Eastern Europe
Shareholder class action - United States
Arbitration - London
PCB Litigation were retained in respect of an arbitration before the London Court of International Arbitration, in which they were successful in challenging the jurisdiction of the arbitrator to grant injunctive relief in respect of the management of companies which controlled US$1 billion of assets in the energy sector.
back to topAsset recovery - UK, Cyprus, Switzerland, Greece
PCB Litigation was instructed by an exclusive London casino to recover £2m from a Middle Eastern businessman whose cheques had been dishonoured. PCB Litigation built a picture of the defendant`s assets and in particular his use of offshore companies in which to hold what were believed to be his assets. As a consequence, PCB Litigation were able to obtain a worldwide freezing order against both the Defendant and an offshore company that owned an aeroplane. Through use of enquiry agents, PCB Litigation were able to locate the aeroplane whilst it was temporarily in England and restrained the airport authorities from allowing it to leave.
Through a series of without notice orders, PCB Litigation were able to obtain further evidence of assets and judgment against the defendant when he failed to use his assets to pay £2m into Court as a condition for defending the proceedings. Further use of investigators enabled PCB Litigation to obtain an order for disclosure in respect of a substantial commission that the defendant was believed to be about to receive from a multi-billion dollar deal. Soon afterwards, the defendant settled the case.
back to topBreach of Contract - UK and USA
PCB Litigation was instructed to take over the defence of a US$69 million claim for breach of contract (with parallel proceedings taking place in the US for fraud and inducing breach of contract) 6 weeks before the trial on liability. Before PCB Litigation had been instructed, the client had lost every application, including an application for security for costs on the basis that the defence to liability was virtually non-existent. PCB Litigation amended the client's defence to considerably strengthen it and proceeded to put the Claimant under pressure in relation to its disclosure. The trial on liability was adjourned and, just 4 months after PCB Litigation had been instructed, it had the claim struck out as a consequence of the Claimant's failure to disclose documents. The Claimant applied for relief from the striking out of the claim, which was made conditional upon the Claimant paying £500,000 into Court. That paved the way for a confidential settlement to be reached in relation to both the UK and US proceedings.
back to topCompany Directors' duties - UK
PCB acted for a defendant to a claim (valued at £3 million) by a well known nightclub based on our client obtaining the benefit of transactions carried out in breach of fiduciary duty of the directors of another company. The claim involved complex areas of company law and was settled on advantageous terms after PCB Litigation had served draft Part 20 proceedings against one of the claimant’s directors. That was a claim that Leading Counsel originally instructed said could not be pursued as a matter of law. We disagreed with his analysis and instructed alternative Leading Counsel who agreed that we could bring such a claim. An indication of the complexity of the case is that in the 6 months that a City of London were instructed on the case, they used two partners and eight other fee earners.
back to topCredit card processing - UK, Germany, Gibraltar
PCB Litigation acted for an online company in relation to a series of claims against credit card processing companies, including freezing the assets of a Gibraltar company and obtaining a Judgment in England to be used for enforcement against assets in Germany.
back to topFranchising - Cyprus
PCB Litigation acted in the successful resolution of a dispute between two international companies in respect of an international franchising agreement relating to fast food outlets.
back to topJoint Venture dispute - UK, Switzerland, Mongolia
The dispute related to a joint venture involving the privatisation programme in Mongolia. The claimant alleged that he had lost $50m as a result of a number of misrepresentations that had led him to enter into the joint venture, the terms of which had then been breached. PCB Litigation successfully argued that the claim should be stayed in accordance with an arbitration clause.
back to topOffshore Regulation - Jersey, UAE, Eastern Europe
PCB Litigation received urgent instructions on behalf of an investment bank to intervene in proceedings in Jersey being brought by the Jersey Financial regulator to wind up investment funds being used to invest in Eastern European property (valued at €1 billion). The Commission alleged serious wrongdoing on the part of the trustees and others in respect of the investments. PCB Litigation successfully obtained an order for intervention on behalf of our client (which had provided 50% of the total invested in the property) in the proceedings and an order that the Commission's choice of proposed new trustee of the funds should be a last resort because of apparent bias.
back to topProfessional negligence - UK
PCB Litigation defended a property developer in claims for costs by his former solicitor and counterclaimed for negligence against the former solicitor. The client's former solicitor disclosed a letter that addressed many of the criticisms against him, which PCB Litigation had grounds to believe was forged. We obtained a computer imaging order against the client's former solicitor and applied for summary judgment on the issue of whether the letter had been forged. After the first day of the summary judgment hearing, the client's former solicitor and his insurers agreed to drop their claims for costs and pay our client a substantial sum of money.
back to topShareholder class action - United States
PCB Litigation advised US lawyers in relation to the causes of action available under English law for shareholders in bringing claims against a multinational company for material misstatement leading to an inflated share price. The Claimants subsequently settled their claims for hundreds of millions of dollars.
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