South Africa and global insurance, financial institutions, banking and general law know–how
In January 2025, the High Court handed down a judgment outlining once again the nature of performance guarantees and the legal principles governing their enforcement.
Two agreements were concluded wherein the beneficiary appointed the applicant to provide road rehabilitation services to it. Performance guarantees were issued to the beneficiary by the insurer on behalf of…
In December 2024, the High Court held that reasons for non-performance are irrelevant considerations when a guarantor claims payment under counter-indemnities and suretyships executed in its favour.
The applicant insurer issued a guarantee in favour of a beneficiary on behalf of a contractor who was constructing a water pipeline for the beneficiary. The guarantee secured…
In October 2024 the High Court reaffirmed the rules governing demand and conditional guarantees in South Africa, and the standards required to challenge a demand on the grounds of fraud only in the clearest cases.
The second respondent (the employer) awarded a contract to the applicants (the JV) to upgrade certain roads. The JV had…
In September 2024 the High Court underscored the fundamental differences between guarantees and suretyships and the implications of business rescue proceedings on these financial instruments.
The principal debtor was indebted to the bank and had been placed under business rescue. These debts were guaranteed by the respondent as an independent, principal obligation. The respondents renounced…
This blog was co-authored by Jos Fogle, candidate attorney at Norton Rose Fulbright South Africa.
In February 2024 the Johannesburg High Court confirmed yet again that a contractor cannot rely on a prima facie right in a construction agreement to interdict the payment by the guarantor under an on-demand guarantee in the absence of fraud.…
This blog was co-authored by Saajidah Patel, candidate attorney at Norton Rose Fulbright South Africa.
In February 2024, the High Court in Standard Bank of South Africa v Dikeledi Mogapi & 19 Others underscored the importance of providing courts with persuasive evidence where a party relies on abstract values such as good faith and Ubuntu…
Co-authored by Jos Fogle – Candidate Attorney
On 4 June 2024, the Supreme Court of Appeal held that a settlement agreement between a beneficiary and a guarantor does not give the principal debtor the right to challenge the guarantor’s payment to the beneficiary.
Construction work was subcontracted to a contractor by the beneficiary. The contractor…
This blog was co-authored by candidate attorney, Jos Fogle.
In City of Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality v Vresthena (Pty) Ltd and Others (1346/ 2022) [2024] ZASCA 51 (18 April 2024),
Electricity was supplied to an entire commercial property through the body corporate by means of a single supply point by the municipality. The owners of the…
In January 2024 the High Court held that an insurer’s guarantee that ambiguously contained two incompatible expiry dates, namely the date of issue of the final completion certificate under the construction contract and the date on which the contractor had to pay under the consequent final payment certificate, should be interpreted in a businesslike fashion…
In November 2023 the Constitutional Court refused to apply the common law “once and for all” rule to matters in which there are two or more causes of action arising out of the same facts. The “once and for all” rule provides that where a party claims for damages arising from a single cause of…
