Alexander Pelling

Alex has acted in a wide range of business, contractual and banking disputes and is recognised in Legal 500 as a leading junior in this highly competitive area. Among the most recent are the following:

• Arab Jordan Investment Bank v Sharbain [2019] EWHC 860, Waksman J.  Claim to enforce judgment of the Jordanian courts in England & Wales.  Numerous points of Jordanian law taken by the defendant.
• Aeroflot – Russian Airlines v. Estate of Berezovsky & ors. [2018] EWHC 1735.  Allegation that defendants had fraudulently conspired to misappropriate over $100m from Russian state airline through the provision of a bogus secured financing arrangement.  Claim discontinued after eight years of litigation on eve of 28-day trial and indemnity costs of the entire action subsequently awarded against the claimant.
• Janus Capital Management v Safeguard World [2016] EWHC 1355.  Claimant alleged that the defendant payroll processor had wrongly charged a mark-up for the provision of foreign exchange and payment services, in breach of contract/fiduciary duty.
• Amira v RS Foods (2015).  Sale of goods case relating to contracts for the delivery of a large volume of rice, including issues as to specification and condition of the goods.
• (2010) Advising on the construction of various clauses in the ISDA Freight Forwarding Master Agreement in numerous claims following the collapse of the Baltic shipping index in 2008-2009
• (2010) acting in a US$34m claim between offshore companies controlled by Russian oligarchs. The claim included a contested freezing order and substantial offshore investigations.
• Cambridge Mercantile v. Global Metcorp Ltd & Anor (2010) claim by a foreign exchange dealer against a customer in relation to a number of disputed contracts.
• (2009) acting for the minority (15%) shareholder in a s. 994 (formerly 459) petition in relation to a company whose assets – mostly consisting of leasehold property – were being mismanaged by the dominant shareholder.
• Byblos International v IFX Markets Ltd [2009] EWHC 346. Claim by a foreign exchange broker against a dealer which the broker alleged had underpaid it in relation to transactions by customers introduced under the brokerage.
• RBS Invoice Financing Ltd v. Karia & ors (2008) claim by debt factor against customer involving freezing order and allegations of fraud.
• Aboualsaud v Aboukhater & Anor [2007] EWHC 2122 (QB) (19 September 2007). A claim for €21m arising out of the sale of the Monte Carlo Grand Hotel for over €200m, in which the claimant’s case was that he was engaged under an oral contract to act as an agent for sale by the defendants. The issues included the difficult question whether the sale to a consortium of buyers that included a party introduced by the claimant was a sufficient performance of the contract sued on.
• Halton International Inc (Holding) SARL (Formerly Halton International Inc) & Anor v Guernroy Ltd [2005] EWHC 1968 Ch D (Patten J) 9/9/2005 [2006] 1 BCLC 78; [2006] EWCA Civ 801. The case was concerned with a voting agreement under which some of the shareholders in British Mediterranean Airways (the claimants) had given power to another (the defendant) to vote their shares and the defendant used that power to authorise the issue of a large number of new shares to itself. The action was concerned with the question whether in these circumstances the defendant was under a fiduciary duty in relation to its exercise of the power, and if so whether it was in breach of such duty. The case also raised questions relating to the construction of section 21 of the Limitation Act, which went to the Court of Appeal.
• Royal Bank of Scotland v. Sandra Estelle Fielding [2003] EWHC 986 Ch D (Hart J) 2/5/2003 References: LTL 8/5/2003: Times, May 16, 2003. Under the terms of a mandate signed by both the defendant and her husband, the defendant was liable to the bank for a substantial debt on a joint account held with her husband even though she was ignorant as to the indebtedness, which was arranged solely between the bank and her husband.
• Isovel Contracts Ltd -v- ABB Building Technologies Ltd [2001] 1 BCLC 390 Ch D. It was no defence to an action on a dishonoured cheque for the amount due under a certificate authorising interim payment under a building contract to argue that subsequent certificates or valuations showed that the amount paid was not due. The rule on mutual credit and set off in r.4.90 Insolvency Rules 1986 SI 1986/1925 was not to be extended to companies in administration by the device of granting a stay on an application for summary judgment based on the cheque.
• Scania Group Litigation. Proceedings were brought by over seven hundred lorry drivers against over fifty employers, alleging that Series 4 Scania lorries were defective in that the seating and cab design caused back injuries. A group litigation order was made and the employers issued third party proceedings against Scania, the manufacturer, for which Alex was instructed with Philip Shepherd QC. The case settled shortly before trial with the dropping of all allegations of defect and the claimants agreeing to pay a substantial contribution towards Scania’s costs.
• Breach of contract claim relating to sole distributorship for ice cream machines. A UK company with sole distribution rights relating to machines for the commercial production of ice cream was replaced in breach of contract by the Italian manufacturer.
• Numerous other business disputes relating to (for example) the investment funds industry, the derivatives trading industry, the travel industry, estate agents and the hotel industry. Also (2010) a dispute relating to contracts for the removal of land mines in Africa and a case concerning allegations that the claimant had been sold defective life jackets.