EMA settles dispute with Canary Wharf group

The European Medicines Agency has announced that it is withdrawing its appeal against the High Court judgment that Brexit would not frustrate its lease of premises in Canary Wharf.

The European Medicines Agency (EMA) has announced that it has settled its dispute with the Canary Wharf group and will not now be appealing against February’s High Court judgment that Brexit would not frustrate its 25-year lease of premises in Canary Wharf (see Legal update, UK’s departure from the EU will not frustrate lease (High Court) (full update)). According to an announcement on the EMA’s website, the EMA has sublet the entirety of the premises in dispute for a term to the expiry of the EMA’s lease in 2039.

The litigation has shone a spotlight on the doctrine of contractual frustration and acted as a reminder of its narrow constraints. More specifically, the case has highlighted the difficulties parties to commercial contracts are likely to face when seeking to prove that Brexit has frustrated their contract. However, the High Court judgment has left some unanswered questions, notably the possibility of invoking Brexit as a frustrating event in relation to other contracts concluded before Brexit became reasonably foreseeable. Practitioners may be disappointed that the Court of Appeal will be denied the opportunity to address these issues.

Source: Practical Law