Corporate Fraud and Criminal Law

Inside Stibbe - Our Brussels office is honoured to have won four awards at the annual Benchmark Litigation Europe Awards ceremony last night. These awards celebrate the leading litigators and most impactful disputes across Europe.

Short Reads - In Dutch legal practice, contracting parties often agree on provisions including an arrangement in which they waive their right to invoke the nullity of the contract in question. By doing so, the parties intend to exclude an eventual contractual annulment arising from error, duress, fraud or undue influence.

Short Reads - Two recent decisions from the Amsterdam Court of Appeal have confirmed that litigation vehicles cannot come empty-handed to the court, and should provide documentation regarding the assignments of claims they submit. The Dutch legal system allows companies and individuals to assign their claims to a “litigation vehicle” or “claims vehicle” that bundles those claims into a single action. In its decisions of 10 March 2020, the Court of Appeal ruled that it is up to litigation vehicles to prove that the assignments can be invoked against the debtor. 

Articles - In a groundbreaking judgment, the Belgian Supreme Court (Court of Cassation) states that the investigating judge may order a suspect to provide the access code of his mobile phone. Hans Van Bavel and Charlotte Conings, our specialists in criminal law, shed a light on the judgment.

Short Reads - The Dutch Civil Code provides for several nominate contracts, for example: contractor agreements, purchase agreements, lease contracts, agency agreements and employment contracts. For these nominate contracts, the Dutch legislator has formulated specific legal rules in the Dutch Civil Code. In some cases, these legal rules are mandatory; i.e. the contracting parties cannot derogate from these legal rules. The purpose of these codified legal rules is often to protect weaker contracting parties.

Short Reads - Earlier this year, the District Court in The Hague ruled that the Dutch State is liable vis-à-vis the victims and surviving relatives of a 1992 plane crash in Faro, Portugal. The State was found liable because it is responsible for the information provided by the Dutch Aviation Safety Board (a government agency) to the victims and surviving relatives. This information, on the causes of the crash was deemed by the court to be incorrect and incomplete.

Short Reads - Recent measures taken by the Dutch government to contain the outbreak and spread of COVID-19 (a novel Coronavirus) have led to an increase in questions regarding the consequences for commercial contracts. These measures influence society as whole, and have a serious impact on a wide range of specific sectors and industries. These measures have put the performance of commercial contracts, spanning activities ranging from delivering supplies to operating flights, under pressure. The following may provide some helpful general guidance.

Articles - Civiele procedures worden waarschijnlijk niet sneller en eenvoudiger met het Conceptwetsvoorstel modernisering en vereenvoudiging bewijsrecht en de Tijdelijke Experimentenwet rechtspleging. De wetsvoorstellen gaan uit van onjuiste veronderstellingen over het verloop van civielrechtelijke procedures en overspannen verwachtingen van de rol van de civiele rechter als alvermogende geschilbeslechter.