Derrick Dale
Call Date
1990
Practice Areas
Derrick Dale has a broad commercial and civil practice, specialising in:
- Commercial litigation and arbitration;
- Insurance and Banking;
- Professional Negligence and Civil Fraud
Summary of Practice
Derrick Dale is a senior junior of 16 years call with wide ranging experience of all areas of commercial law.
In recent years, Derrick has advised upon and appeared in some of the most high profile commercial law, banking, insurance and professional negligence cases. In the last 18 months this has included the following cases: Ineos v Huntsman (a large contractual dispute between two chemical companies), “the Athena” (an insurance arbitration claim) and the three well publicised professional negligence claims of REO v Aberdeen Asset Management and UBS, Williams and McLaren v Linklaters and Baker & McKenzie and the Football League v Edge Ellison.
He is profiled as a leading junior in the 2007 editions of the Legal 500, Legal Experts 2007 and Chambers directories for his expertise in insurance/reinsurance and professional negligence work. The 2006 edition of the Legal 500 states that he is “noted for his sound commercial judgment and inventive approach” and that “he retains a sense of humour in the darkest of times”.
Education
MA First Class, Cambridge University
LLM Harvard Law School
New York Bar
Notable Cases
Arbitration
Hellenic Mutual War Risk Association v Sea Trade Maritime “The Athena” [2006] 2Lloyds Rep 147
An ongoing arbitration concerning the exercise of the discretion by the Association to pay a claim involving extensive jurisdictional challenges to the jurisdiction of the arbitrators.
WR Berkeley v Co (Julian Flaux)
Arbitration between two insurers as to which insurer was liable for losses arising to the Bower Cotton Partnership through the activities of Mr Simms involving consideration as to whether notification that the Law Scoiety had intervened into Mr Simms’ practice constituted notification of “circumstances” under Cox’s earlier policy.
Rank v Serena (2004)
Accountants expert determination on the value of Mr Earl (formerly of Hard Rock) payable by Rank to Serena.
LG Wales v Euler (2002)
An arbitration concerning a credit issuance policy, involving issues concerning policy coverage, non disclosure and misrepresentation by the assured.
Banking & Finance
Mahonia v WestLB [2004] EWHC 1938 (Comm)
A dispute between JP Morgan Chase and WestLB as to whether JPMorgan Chase had conspired with Enron to obtain a letter of credit from WestLB in support of a disguised loan in the form of three swaps from JP Morgan Chase to Mahonia, a special purpose vehicle incorporated in Jersey.
Czarnikov-Rionda v Standard Bank and others (1999) (Rix J)
Letter of credit - in what circumstances a beneficiary under a letter of credit alleging fraud on the part of the seller was entitled to obtain a mareva injunction against issuing and confirming banks preventing payment under the letter of credit
Lloyds Bank v Starling (1999) Court of Appeal (Peter Gibson LJ, Mance LJ, Moore-Bick J)
Construction of mortgage deed - whether mortgagee under a duty of good faith to consider mortgagor's request to let mortgaged property.
Civil Fraud
Strive Shipping Corporation v Hellenic Mutual War Risks Association (Bermuda) Ltd, the Grecia Express [2002] EWHC 203 Colman J.
A case concerning the alleged scuttling of an Greek passenger ferry by its owner, involving an important analysis of marine perils, policy coverage, the burden of proof in cases of malicious acts and scuttling or barratry, the scope of moral hazard as regards the duty of disclosure and the duty of good faith.
Orange v Squires (1998) (Simon Brown LJ, Henry LJ)
Order 14 - fraud - the test to be applied by the Court when dealing with an application for Order 14 in a fraud case and the impact of an Order 14 judgment against one defendant upon other defendants.
Commercial Litigation
Ineos v Huntsman (2006) Blackburne J
A large commercial dispute between two chemical companies involving extensive construction issues in respect of numerous agreements and a claim that such agreements were in breach of the Competition Acts and EU treaties.
Cable & Wireless v IBM (2004)
An involved commercial dispute between C&W and IBM concerning the provision of outsourcing of IT services by IBM and the benchmarking requirements under the contracts.
Knauf v British Gypsum (2004)
A technology and construction case concerning the cause of delamination of plaster from paperboard in 10,000 homes in the North West and the chemical factors and processes causing such delamination.
Petrol Express v Ernst & Young, RBS and Fuelforce (2006).
A case concerning the diversion of a maturing business opportunity by the former directors of Petrol Express to newco and the liability of the directors and the advisers for breach of fiduciary duty.
J.H.Rayner v Cafenorte SA Importadora [1999] 1 All ER (Comm) 120, (Moore-Bick J at first instance) Court of Appeal (Chadwick LJ, Peter Gibson LJ, Waller LJ)
Setting aside a default judgment - whether, and if so, on what terms, the Court should set aside a default judgment after a delay of seven and a half years - interpretation of Article 39 of the Brussels Convention.
Grupo Torras SA v Sheikh Fahad and others (1998) (Langley J)
Mareva jurisdiction - whether a cause of action is required against a defendant out of the jurisdiction in order for the English Court to grant mareva against that party. Issue pursued to the Privy Council from the Court of Appeal, Bahamas.
Professional Negligence
REO v Aberdeen & UBS (2007)
An action relating to the alleged failure of Aberdeen and UBS to advise on flotation the board of a company as to the inherent risks involved in split capital investment trusts and their proposensity to systemic collapse by reason of their high gearing and cross holdings in other split capital companies.
Williams and McLaren v Linklaters and Baker & McKenzie (2006)
A dispute between two Formula One companies and their former legal advisers as to the drafting of an agreement with SLEC, a trust company set up by Bernie Ecclestone.
The Football League v Edge Ellison (2006)
An action brought by the Football League against its former legal advisers in respect of the alleged failure of Egde Ellison to seek and obtain a guarantee from the parent companies of OnDigital to support OnDigital’s payment obligations under its tv rights contract with the Football League.
Brown v Bennett (2001) Neuberger J
An important wasted costs action (after the judgment of Medcalf v Mardell in the Court of Appeal) relating to the conduct of lawyers in a corporate fraud case.
Thermawear v. Citroen Wells (1995) (Lightman J.) (Bingham MR, Henry LJ, Thorpe LJ)
Accountants' negligence - duty of care - whether vendors' accountants owed a duty of care to purchaser - discretion of trial judge to order a preliminary issue at trial.
GE Capital v Bankers Trust & Others, Bankers Trust v. Arthur Anderson & others (1994) (Ferris J.)
Accountants' and bankers' negligence case arising out of the management buy-out of Magnet PLC.
CLF Yeoman v. SG Warburgs and Linklaters & Paines (1994) (Buckley J.)
Merchant bankers' and solicitors' negligence case arising out of acquisition of CLF by Yeoman
Publications
Derrick is the joint editor of the damages section in ‘Simpson on Professional Negligence’.
Professional Negligence and Liability
Interests
His interests include marathon running, film noir and 19th/20th Century fiction.