Caroline Watson

Recent Work

• Acting for the owner /operator of a substantial retail park in defence of claims (valued at c£60-90m) being asserted by a lender for breaches of a mezzanine facility; successfully obtaining High Court injunctive relief preventing the lender from calling in the facility and securing a negotiated resolution of the dispute enabling the client’s mezzanine facility to remain in place.
• Acting for the sellers of an agri-tech business in c£3.25m claims against a global PLC relating to breaches of the share purchase agreement’s deferred consideration provisions.
• Acting for the Claimant in High Court claims against a county council for breaching the Procurement Regulations in the process it followed to tender for a c£2m contract to supply ultrafast broadband.
• Acting for the Claimant in High Court professional negligence proceedings against a well-known law firm for damages in excess of £1m. The claims related to the law firm’s failure to issue a claim for negligence against a third-party firm of solicitors within the limitation period.
• Acting for the claimant in a successful challenge under s67 Arbitration Act 1996 to the jurisdiction of an arbitrator appointed by the English Court [ASES Havacilik Servis Ve Destek Hizmetleri AS v Delkor UK Ltd [2013] 1 Lloyd’s Rep 254]. The case is the leading authority on the interaction between s67 and s72 Arbitration Act 1996.
• Successfully defending the provider of a major PFI hospital in c£10m adjudication proceedings brought by the design and build contractor.
• Acting for a global manufacturing business in potential claims against an employee on garden leave for breaches of restrictive covenants and breaches of confidence following his release of details of customers and their orders valued at over £18m to his new employer.
• Acting for a global financial services company in the mediated settlement of claims valued at c£750,000 by the estate of a deceased policyholder for the specific performance of a policy and counter claims for the rectification of a mistake in the policy’s endorsement.
• Successfully defending a global financial services company in its High Court defence of an appeal from a decision of the Pensions Ombudsman regarding whether a guaranteed annuity rate on the policy holder’s pension had been lost due to maladministration.