High Court gives high-octane judgment rejecting bad faith allegations made against Aston Martin

21 December, 2023

On 20 December 2023, Dame Clare Moulder DBE (sitting as a Judge of the High Court) handed down judgment following the trial in Aston Martin MENA Limited v Aston Martin Lagonda Limited [2023] EWHC 3285 (Comm). As well as determining the parties’ debt claims against each other, the Court rejected various allegations of bad faith brought by the Claimant (“AMMENA”) against the Defendant (“AML”).

The Court’s judgment dismissed AMMENA’s contention that wide-ranging implied duties to cooperate in good faith existed; held that the express duties of good faith were narrow in scope (having reviewed the key authorities including the Court of Appeal’s recent judgment in Compound Photonics); and in any event rejected AMMENA’s nine specific allegations of breach, concluding that AML had acted in good faith at all times.

Iain Quirk KC acted for AML, along with Sophie Weber and Robert Harris of One Essex Court, instructed by Richard Jeens and Damian Taylor of Slaughter and May.

The full judgment is available here.