$1.9 million damages awarded to Matt Hutchings’s client in commercial claim

01 Jan 2018

Commercial and Regulatory

Matt Hutchings acted for Virulite LLC which recovered damages of US$1.9 million after a 10-day trial.

The case concerned termination of an agreement for the exclusive US distribution of the Virulite cold sore machine, prescribed in the UK on the NHS for the treatment of cold sores.

In Virulite LLC v Virulite Distribution Ltd & or [2014] EWHC 366, QBD, the claimant alleged that termination of the agreement amounted to a repudiatory breach.

Issues included the effect of ‘no variation’ clauses in the agreement on an alleged oral variation and the effect of an alleged promissory estoppel on the contractual machinery for termination. The court was asked to assess the claimant’s losses in circumstances where the device had not in fact been sold in significant quantities in the US.