One Essex Court is delighted that 11 members of chambers are involved in 2 of the appeals featured in The Lawyer’s recently published Top 10 Appeals of 2022.
- SKAT (the Danish Customs and Tax Administration) v Solo Capital Partners (in Special Administration) and others
This three-day appeal scheduled for 25 January 2022 follows a hearing in 2021 before Mr Justice Andrew Baker, relating to an allegation of a £1.5bn fraud and featuring a total of 114 named defendants. Mr Justice Andrew Baker struck out the claim in March 2021; the claimant will now appeal against his conclusion that the claims are barred by the revenue rule. Michael Fealy QC, Jamie Goldsmith QC, Abra Bompas, James Ruddell and KV Krishnaprasad form part of the counsel team representing the appellant, Skatteforvaltningen, instructed by Pinsent Masons.
- Município de Mariana & Ors v BHP Group, BHP Billiton and BHP Group
This five-day appeal, scheduled for April 2022 and considered the largest class action that has been brought before the English courts, arises as a result of the collapse of the Fundao dam in Brazil in 2015. Parent companies BHP Plc and BHP Ltd, with ultimate ownership and control of the dam, are being sued. When this matter reaches the Court of Appeal, the 200,000+ claimant group will be appealing the first instance decision which held that their arguments were an abuse of process. Alain Choo Choy QC leads the counsel team representing the appellants, Município de Mariana & Ors, instructed by PGMBM. Daniel Toledano QC, Nicholas Sloboda, Maximilian Schlote, Veena Srirangam and Jade Fowler act for the respondents, BHP Group plc, BHP Billiton plc and BHP Group Ltd, instructed by Slaughter and May.
The full list of featured appeals can be seen here.