Joe Rich was part of a team of barristers that acted for the successful appellant in the Court of Appeal in Sahara v Sonara [2026] EWCA Civ 54.
The key point at issue concerned the proper construction of a document referred to as the “Joint Report”, which was signed by the parties at the conclusion of a two-day meeting in 2019 in respect of non-deliveries of oil dating back to 2013. The Joint Report included a table with forms of loss suffered by the Appellant as a result of the Respondent’s non-delivery, under the heading “Undisputed Claims”. These amounted to USD 76,967,673.97. Overturning the decision of Cockerill J in the Commercial Court, the Court of Appeal held (with Snowden LJ giving the lead judgment) that the proper construction of the words “Undisputed Claims” was that the Respondent agreed to pay the sums listed. Joe made oral submissions before the Court of Appeal on the question of whether a contractual interest clause liquidated damages for late payment. That issue fell away in light of the Court’s other conclusions.
Joe was instructed by Alexander Sandiforth and Geraint Biggs of Reed Smith LLP.
