Joshua Brown

Commercial

Josh is regularly instructed in relation to commercial disputes across Chambers’ areas of practice, including sale of goods, services contracts, agency, bailment, debt claims, as well as claims involving breach of fiduciary duty and breach of warranty. Josh’s current and recent instructions include:

• Acting for the claimant company in MW High Tech Projects v. Greenhalgh & ors, a claim against its former directors for more than £300m in relation to the company’s entry into three waste-to-energy projects.
• Acting for the defendant in proceedings worth c. £300,000 in the Circuit Commercial Court, in which the Claimant alleges that the Defendant converted a large number of spare part items and failed to return them on demand. The issues in the dispute include limitation, contract novation and issues of quantum.
• Acting for the claimant in proceedings worth more than $700,000 in the High Court, Business List, for sums the claimant alleges are due and unpaid under a number of contracts for recruitment services of personnel. The issues in the dispute include whether and if so which relevant terms were incorporated into the respective contracts, interpretation of key terms in the contract relating to frustration, cancellation and payment dates, as well as a number of factual disputes relating to whether the payments sought were substantively owed.
• Advised on behalf of clients with respect to a six-figure claim for unpaid fees, involving issues of agency and contract formation;
• Settled a Defence to a claim seeking repayment of monies allegedly made under undue influence and duress;
• Advised on behalf of restaurant owners in respect of a potential claim relating to the termination and delays in reinstatement of their electricity supply;
• Acted for the defendant in a successful preliminary issues trial concerning the identity of the contracting parties in a construction dispute, resulting in the claim being struck out;
• Advised and settled a letter of response in a c.£7 million sale of goods dispute;
• Settling Particulars of Claim seeking the return of high-value jewellery and related declarations following its alleged conversion by a third party;
• Drafted Particulars of Claim on behalf of an executor for the return of monies to the estate, involving issues of breach of trust, undue influence and capacity;
• Acted for debt recovery agents in a successful summary judgment application dismissing a claim for breach of contract and harassment;
• Advised and settled Particulars of Additional Claim alleging breach of warranty, negligent misstatement and breach of contract in proceedings relating to the removal of timber from the claimant’s land;
• Advised and settled a Defence and Particulars of Additional Claim in c. £300,000 High Court proceedings involving contractual interpretation of a ‘disaster management’ agreement and various indemnity provisions;
• Advising on disputes relating to the Construction Plant Hire Association (CPA) terms, including issues of incorporation and exclusion / limitation clauses;
• Advising with respect to a claim for unpaid commission;
• Advising and drafting Particulars of Claim in respect of an allegedly defective car;
• Settling defences to sale of goods and services claims involving issues of contractual interpretation and reliance on various provisions of the Consumer Rights Act 2015;
• Settling a Defence to a claim concerning an alleged defective shower unit;
• Settled a Reply in a contractual dispute raising issues concerning bailment and incorporation of terms;
• Settled a Defence to a claim for alleged unpaid fees involving issues of oral variations and/or collateral agreements;
• Acted for commercial lenders in successfully resisting an application by a debtor to set aside judgment;
• Settled a Defence and advised in respect of a claim for restitution following the sale of an alleged stolen vehicle, pursuant to s.12 of the Sale of Goods Act 1979;
• Acting for clients in enforcement proceedings including applications for charging orders in the High Court;
• Settling Particulars of Claim and Defences in relation to claims under the Consumer Protection Act 1987.
• Acted for the claimant in six-figure proceedings against the insurers of a company which had supplied and installed a temporary inflatable exhibition structure at the claimant’s hired premises. The structure failed to withstand wind conditions and collapsed, causing material damage and financial loss. The issues revolved around the meaning of fitness of purpose and satisfactory quality of the product and whether there had been sufficiently clear warnings from D as to the limitations of the product.

Selected Cases

Awards

Winner of the Times Law Awards (2016)

Winner of the Maitland Advocacy Prize (2015)

Gray’s Inn (2016): Bedingfield Scholarship.

Gray’s Inn (2015): CPE/GDL Award.

City Law School (2015): GDL Scholarship.

Articles

• An Exercise in Utility: Liquidators Adjudicating Construction Disputes
• Extensions of time and adjournment during COVID-19: Muncipio De Mariana & Ors v BHP Group Plc and BHP Group Ltd [2020] EWHC 928 (TCC) (20 April 2020)

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Qualifications

Bar Professional Training Course (2016-2017): City Law School

Graduate Diploma in Law (2015-2016): City Law School

MPhil, Merton College, University of Oxford (2013-2015)

BA (Hons), Merton College, University of Oxford (2010-2013), First Class

Memberships

COMBAR

LCLCBA