In a September 2025 judgment a US Appeals Court confidently proclaimed the matter as being a “straightforward contract interpretation case”. It is.
The insured claimed under a Marine Open Cargo Policy for damage to blood plasma that underwent a harmful temperature variation due to a delay in shipment. As a result of a “FDA hold”
The High Court’s decision in Hart v Hart signals a renewed focus on the “armchair evidence” rule in the interpretation of wills: not just as a theoretical tool, but as a practical safeguard for ensuring that a testator’s wishes are carried out.
In his will, the testator bequeathed his entire estate to his sons, subject
In November 2024, the Supreme Court of Appeal (court) set a precedent for Valuation Appeal Boards (VABs) in South Africa, reaffirming the importance of providing clear and reasoned decisions. The court highlighted that VABs, which are entrusted to adjudicate over valuation appeals in accordance with section 54 of the Local Government:
On 24 March 2025, the Constitutional Court upheld the appeal of Ekapa Minerals (Pty) Ltd and set aside the order of the High Court. The appeal related to whether the Constitutional Court could interfere with the High Court’s exercise of its true discretion under section 172(1)(b) of the Constitution by deciding to grant a retrospective
The Constitutional Court’s unanimous April 2025 judgment in Prithilal v Akani Egoli (Pty) Ltd and Another restates the narrow circumstances in which a court may depart from the ordinary party‑and‑party scale and award costs on the punitive attorney‑and‑client scale. Ms Prithilal, although successful in joining Akani to her delictual action, had been ordered by the
This blog is co-authored by Justine Subramoney, a candidate attorney.
A Company’s Memorandum of Incorporation or MOI is its most important document. However, section 15 of the Companies Act provided that an MOI must be consistent with the Act and any clause that is not will be void to the extent it is not. In
This blog was co-authored by: Caitlin Gardiner, Candidate Attorney
In this case, the Claimant sued for damages, alleging that the hospital staff’s negligence during her labour resulted in her child’s cerebral palsy. The Supreme Court of Appeal found that no adverse inference should be drawn because the hospital records are missing. Nor could any
Bad grammar does not necessarily render a contract ambiguous.
That was the sensible conclusion of this United States judgment.
Hall sued her former employer, Rag-O-Rama when it fired her less than a year after promoting her to an area-manager position. A poorly drafted sentence in the employment contract recorded:
“Hall is reminded of the
The Supreme Court of Appeal, in Pelham Stephanus Bothma and Others v Tertius Bothma N.O and Another (Case number 748/2019) [2021] ZASCA 46 (15 April 2021), re-affirmed the position regarding the interpretation of legal documents, re-stating the principle that only admissible evidence of context, conservatively applied, may be led in resolving an interpretation dispute.
The
In June 2021 the High Court of Australia held that a clause in a business interruption policy that excluded diseases that were “declared to be quarantinable diseases under the Quarantine Act, 1908 and subsequent amendments” did not include diseases quarantinable under the Biosecurity Act, 2015 which had repealed and replaced the 1908 Act.
The insurers