Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
OF
ECONOMIC
DURESS
by
Philip Newman, Barrister
and Nitin Khandhia, Solicitor
When
you've got
them by the
balls, their
hearts and
minds
follow!
Illegitimate
pressure
must be
distinguished
from the
rough and
tumble of the
pressures of
normal
commercial
bargaining
The
fundamental
question is
whether the
pressure has
crossed the
line from
accepted
commercial
bargaining
Situations are
likely to
increase in
the current
economic
climate
where
margins and
money are
increasingly
"tight".
Correspondence
was
degenerating
into open
hostility
It was
decided to
capitulate in
the face of
the pressure
The opening
of the
Champagne
was
premature!
This case
shows the
dangers of
going over
the top
during
negotiations
They
realised they
were being
played
There was
no alternative
but to
accept
He cannot
have thought
there was any
legal or moral
justitfication
in the stance
he took
It shows
there are
remedies
available
SUMMARy
This area of the law whilst providing a useful tool to right
wrongs - requires considerable care in its handling and any
party wishing to play this card needs to take objective and
legally well-informed view of the situation in its full factual
context. This is where lawyers come in. The position for
the commercial or business client is that often it cannot take
its own objective and dispassionate view of events that have
occurred. It may have been at loggerheads with the other
commercial party for weeks or months. Relations may be
very strained or may have broken down between key
individuals. Everyone on both sides of the dispute, may
consider they are in wholly in the right and the other party
is wholly in the wrong. So the position is that objective legal
advice is essential and a commercial party faced with what
it may consider to be economic duress or intimidation (or a
party being accused of exerting such duress or
intimidation) will need lawyers who are able to give
objective and commercially astute legal advice ... and to do
so speedily.
Earlier in this short article we have given you details of
cases where the economic duress was successfully
established - but it is important to appreciate that there are
plenty of cases where it has failed to be established.
Ultimately, it is a relatively easy allegation to make - but a
very hard one to prove. It is wise to understand that the
courts work solely on evidence so that they must be satisfied
on that it is more likely than not that economic duress has
established such that it went beyond the "rough and
tumble" of tough commercial negotiations between hardheaded commercial individuals.
Objective
legal advice is
essential