Court of Appeal considers requirements for issue estoppel in ACG v. Olympic ([2014] EWCA Civ. 821).

Michael McLaren QC successfully acted for ACG in its third CA victory in its long-running dispute with Olympic; for previous CA judgments, see [2013] EWCA Civ. 369 and [2012] EWCA Civ. 1659.  Olympic (in liquidation) argued that monies it had paid into court (£582k) should not be paid out to ACG, because to do so would breach Greek insolvency law.  The Court of Appeal found that the same issue of Greek law, which had previously been determined by Steel J on an application for a small amount of costs at an interlocutory stage pre-trial, had been necessary and fundamental to Steel J’s decision despite the fact that his Order had not mentioned it.  The CA also rejected Olympic’s argument that exceptional features prevented the operation of issue estoppel.  The leading judgment given by Lord Justice Rimer, with whom Lord Justice Moore-Bick agreed, is available here.