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Brett Wilson Civil Litigation and Insolvency Blog

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7.04.25

HXZ v NMX: Businessman secures injunction against former lover accused of blackmailing him

On 13 March 2025, in HXZ v NMX [2025] EWHC 697 (KB) Mr Justice Ritchie granted a without notice interim injunction to a businessman who alleged that he was being blackmailed and harassed by a former lover.  Judgment was handed down on 21 March 2025. The Claimant (anonymised as ‘HXZ’) is the chairman of a…

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14.03.25

Civil litigation FAQs: summary judgment

What is summary judgment? The summary judgment process is the means by which the court can determine liability at an early stage in proceedings without costing the parties the time and expense involved in proceeding to a full trial. Either party can make an application for summary judgment or a court can list a hearing…

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19.02.25

Court orders mediation in “Super Dry” Manchester City dispute

In a recent blog we discussed how the landscape in relation to alternative dispute resolution (ADR0 had changed over the years and how the case of Churchill v Merthyr Tydfil [2023] EWCA Civ 1416 paved the way for changes to the Civil Procedure Rules (CPR) which now formally recognises that the Court can order parties…

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18.02.25

Man’s claim to recover bitcoin fortune lost in landfill site fails

In Howells v Newport City Council [2025] EWHC 22 (Ch), the High Court seemingly put an end to a man’s decade-long attempt to recover access to circa £500million worth of Bitcoin mistakenly dumped in a landfill site in Newport, Wales. James Howells claimed that a hard drive, containing his private key to access 8,000 Bitcoin…

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19.12.24

How the landscape in relation to ADR has changed in 20 years

In 2004, in Halsey v Milton Keynes General NHS Trust [2004] EWCA Civ 576, the Court of Appeal prescribed six criteria for determining whether a refusal to mediate would be taken into account in any costs decision.  In doing so, they also remarked that the courts could not and should not compel parties to mediate:…

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21.08.24

Brett Wilson LLP recognised by Legal 500 as a leading firm for client satisfaction

Brett Wilson LLP has been recognised by the prestigious Legal 500 directory as a leading firm for client satisfaction. The Legal 500 claims to hold more information on the client market than any other organisation in the legal sector.  The recognition follows six years of in-depth client research. Brett Wilson LLP is one of only…

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13.06.24

High Court holds that computer scientist’s claims to be inventor of Bitcoin are dishonest

For a number of years, computer scientist Craig Wright has professed to be the elusive Satoshi Nakamoto, the pseudonymous creator of Bitcoin.  Based on these claims, Dr Wright had initiated numerous proceedings in England and Wales and across the world, including libel claims against people who publicly declared that he was not Satoshi (for instance,…

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29.04.24

My OnlyFans content is being leaked: what can I do?

There has been a very sharp rise in self-published adult content over the last decade, driven in large part by the launch and success of OnlyFans and rival entrants  to the market such as Fansly, JustForFans, and ManyVids (there are dozens of others).  References in the article to OnlyFans apply equally to all similar websites….

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5.12.23

Claim fails following failure to serve at proper address

In Jagger (& others) v. Axa Insurance plc the Court rejected the Claimant’s argument that service on the Defendant company’s former registered office address was good service and also refused the Claimant’s application an order that service was “good” or for an extension of time for service, which resulted in the claim failing. What are…

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22.11.23

Seeking default judgment on defamation claims

It is not uncommon for defendants to fail to respond to a claim against them.  Indeed, around 90% of the 1.5 million claims issued in England and Wales each year are undefended.    When that happens, the usual course for a claimant is to request or apply for default judgment, which in most cases is entered…

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Legal Disclaimer

Articles are intended as an introduction to the topic and do not constitute legal advice.