Business Law Library & Tracker
Selected Business Law Cases
Short explainers for court decisions that change how UK businesses handle contracts, staff, customers, IP and company duties.
Sources last reviewed 10 Aug 2026
Main law guides
122
Acts, regulations and codes worth reading first
Topics
60
Plain-English clusters
Published case explainers
143
Selected cases with a business lesson
Tracked updates
13
New, amended & reviewed
Plain-English explainers, not legal advice. Use the linked official source for section-level detail, and get advice for your situation.
Get legal helpCredico Marketing Limited & Anor. v Benjamin Gregory Lambert & Anor.
If your agreement contains both an exclusivity clause and a post-termination non-compete, assess them separately. This case shows that a court may uphold the first...
Dwyer (UK Franchising) Limited v Fredbar Limited & Anor.
If you use franchise agreements, do not assume a 12 month restraint is safe just because similar clauses have been upheld elsewhere. The court said each case turns...
Harpur Trust v Brazel
Holiday pay is a payroll legal issue, not just an HR estimate. Employers with variable-hours, term-time or irregular workers should use current statutory rules and...
London & South Eastern Railway Limited & Ors v Justin Gutmann
Read this case as a warning about pricing operations and channel design, not as a final statement that the defendants acted unlawfully. The Court of Appeal did not...
LUEN FAT METAL AND PLASTIC MANUFACTORY CO LTD v FUNKO UK LTD
For small businesses, the main lesson is to check both sides of the trade mark equation. If you are enforcing a mark, be ready to prove genuine use and show the...
PIXDENE LIMITED v PADDINGTON AND COMPANY LIMITED
If your contract gives you a percentage of sales, royalties or net revenue, check whether the audit clause actually works in practice. This decision shows that a...
Ventures Food Limited v Little Dessert Shop Limited
If your business model involves one entity taking a lease and another occupying the premises, make the documents say clearly what right is being granted and what...
Zoe Evans & Ors. v Anytime Clubs UK Limited & Anor.
If you run a franchise, keep clear records showing who controls local marketing in practice, not just on paper. A general right to protect brand standards is not...
Hurstwood Properties v Rossendale Borough Council
Aggressive tax or rates planning can fail even when the documents look technically clever. Businesses should be wary of schemes that rely on form while ignoring the...
Kabab-Ji SAL (Lebanon) v Kout Food Group (Kuwait)
For ordinary businesses, the durable lesson is not really about high-level arbitration theory. It is about contract housekeeping. If you trade with a company in a...
Lloyd v Google LLC
The decision reduced one route for large-scale data claims, but it does not make privacy risk small. Businesses still need clear tracking, consent, data-use and...
Quantum Actuarial LLP v Quantum Advisory Ltd
If you are restructuring a business, spinning out an operating vehicle, or outsourcing client work within a group, draft the agreement around the real commercial...
Travel Counsellors Ltd v Trailfinders Ltd
Do not assume a new recruit or franchisee is free to bring over a customer list just because they know the customers personally. If the volume, format or detail of...
Triple Point Technology Inc v PTT Public Company Ltd
Implementation contracts need careful delay, acceptance, termination and damages drafting. If the contract does not explain what happens when a project is late and...
Uber BV v Aslam
Businesses using contractors, platform workers or gig-style models should test the real relationship, not just the label in the contract. Control over pricing,...
Aven & Ors v Orbis Business Intelligence Ltd
If your business commissions or produces investigation reports, do not assume that a legal dispute, client confidentiality or a public-interest concern gives you a...
Bresco Electrical Services Ltd v Michael J Lonsdale (Electrical) Ltd
Construction payment disputes do not disappear because one party becomes insolvent. Contractors and principals should keep payment notices, variations and evidence...
Chapelgate Credit Opportunity Master Fund Ltd v Money & Ors
If your business is using a commercial funder to back a claim, do not assume the funder’s downside is automatically capped at the amount it puts in. This case shows...
The Racing Partnership Ltd & Ors v Sports Information Services Ltd
The durable lesson is about sourcing discipline. If you receive commercially valuable information from a third party, ask where it comes from, what rights sit...
Trailfinders Ltd v Travel Counsellors Ltd & Ors
For ordinary businesses, the lesson is simple: do not treat customer lists as fair game just because a recruit knows the customers, can remember some details, or...
WM Morrison Supermarkets plc v Various Claimants
The decision helped employers on vicarious liability, but it is not a reason to relax data security. Businesses still need access controls, audit trails, incident...
Burnden Holdings (UK) Ltd & Anor v Fielding & Anor
If your business funds someone else’s court claim, the court may treat you as a real participant in the litigation rather than a bystander. That risk increases...
Cornerstone Telecommunications Infrastructure Ltd v Compton Beauchamp Estates Ltd
Do not assume the freeholder is always the right party for a telecoms agreement. Under the Code, the occupier is generally the person who can confer code rights. A...
Royal Mail Group Ltd v Jhuti
Employers need clean investigation and dismissal processes, especially after complaints or whistleblowing. A decision-maker should not rely blindly on a manager's...
The Secretary of State for Transport v Arriva Rail East Midlands Ltd ("Arriva")
If your business is excluded from a tender, do not assume every claim runs on the same clock. This case shows that a private law damages claim may not automatically...
Tillman v Egon Zehnder Ltd
Severance can rescue a restraint, but it is not a drafting strategy. Employers should tailor each restriction to the employee's role and the business interest being...
Wells v Devani
A short conversation and subsequent performance can create an enforceable contract, but statutory disclosure duties still matter. Businesses should not depend on a...
Pimlico Plumbers Ltd v Smith
Contractor status needs to match the real working model. If a business requires personal service, controls presentation, allocates work closely and integrates the...
Rock Advertising Ltd v MWB Business Exchange Centres Ltd
If a contract says variations must be in writing, do not rely on a casual call or email chain to change the deal. Sales, account management and finance teams should...
Wood v Capita Insurance Services Limited
Warranties and indemnities are not interchangeable safety nets. A buyer needs each risk mapped to the trigger, notice process, time limit, liability cap and remedy...
The English Electric Company Ltd v Alstom UK
Do not assume a historic employee claim stays with the original employer after a business transfer. In this case, the court held that wording about claims arising...
Arnold v Britton
Compounding clauses deserve the same attention as headline price terms. Courts use context and commercial common sense to understand words, but they do not rescue a...
Cavendish Square Holding BV v Makdessi; ParkingEye Ltd v Beavis
Liquidated damages, default charges, service credits and termination consequences need a legitimate commercial rationale. They should not look like punishment...
FHR European Ventures LLP v Cedar Capital Partners LLC
An agent cannot keep an undisclosed payment connected with the work it was engaged to perform. Businesses using brokers, introducers and acquisition advisers should...
Autoclenz Ltd v Belcher
If your contractor agreement says one thing but daily operations say another, the operational reality can win. Substitution clauses, freedom language and...