Expertise
Victoria is an experienced commercial litigator who has practised for over 12 years, in England and overseas (Hong Kong). Victoria is a specialist in insurance and she acts for policyholders in disputes with their insurers.
She leads the firm's policyholder disputes practice in Manchester.
She has extensive experience of resolving insurance claims for policyholders in all sectors and all types of insurance, such as professional indemnity, warranty and indemnity, trade credit, business interruption, property damage, and directors and officers.
Recent insurance experience includes:
- Acting for a major British retailer in pursuing a claim under its D&O insurance in respect of a significant claim brought against certain of its former directors. The dispute concerns the interpretation and application of an allocation provision between insured and uninsured losses.
- Advising a former CEO of a UK PLC in relation to a claim for legal costs and an indemnity under a D&O policy.
- Advising an unincorporated joint venture in relation to proceedings against excess layer insurance for defence costs and expenses following the incident at Grenfell Tower in 2017.
- Acting in a multi-million pound Commercial Court claim against W&I insurers following the acquisition of a construction business in 2019 (CL-2022-000621), with judgment handed down in October 2023 and now on appeal to the Court of Appeal with the hearing in April 2024.
Victoria is known for her expertise in shareholder and boardroom fall-outs. She has an extensive practice, dealing regularly with unfair prejudice claims, breach of shareholders' agreements, and breach of fiduciary duties.
Recent shareholder / fiduciary duties experience includes:
- Defending an injunction threatened in relation to compulsory transfer of a former employee's shares.
- Acting for a minority shareholder energy company in an unfair prejudice dispute
- Acting for a large British retailer in an LCIA arbitration concerning alleged unfair prejudice by the majority shareholder.
- Acting for the former directors of Burnden Holdings (UK) Ltd in successfully defending proceedings for breach of fiduciary duties brought by a liquidator [2019] EWHC 1566 (Ch).
