David Farnell

Partner, Receivables (Corporate/Recoveries)

David acts for banks and other financial services providers in a variety of complex disputes, often with a cross-border element. He has extensive financial services sector experience, both in private practice and in-house, through two secondments with major UK banks.

Reported cases that David has worked on are BMW v Bhagwanani (concerning whether registration of a third party keeper amounted to conversion of a motor car), Alexander v West Bromwich Building Society (representative claim challenging Society’s variation of interest rates on buy-to-let mortgages) and Carey v HSBC (approving lender’s reliance on a reconstituted agreement to satisfy the requirements of section 78 of the Consumer Credit Act 1974).

In addition to general banking law, David’s specialisms include:

Asset Finance His asset finance experience includes cases involving civil fraud; contractual interpretation, eg. liquidated damages clause or penalty; High Court interim orders for delivery-up or preservation of goods, eg. aircraft, plant and machinery; satisfactory quality claims; title disputes and liens; third party claims, eg. surveyor or valuer negligence; and wrongful interference.

Recent cases: • negotiated a settlement between two lessors with competing title claims over undelivered construction equipment, following the supplier’s appointment of administrators • successfully defended of a misrepresentation claim against a lessor arising from the contra settlement of VAT invoices for the supply of commercial vehicles • assisted a lessor in assessing and disposing of a £1.3m claim arising from the supply of robotic milking equipment (declining a request for a standstill agreement) • advised a lessor about its £1m claim against third parties for fraudulent misrepresentation, inducing the lessor’s purchase of specialised salt machinery

Receivables Finance

David’s work in receivables finance includes civil fraud; exercising recourse; retention of title clauses; customer insolvency and enforcement of security

Recent cases: • advised an invoice finance lender about a third-party manufacturer’s purported charge over receivables (pursuant to a distribution agreement between the third party and the lender’s customer; the case settled on terms that were favourable to the lender) • pre-empted a customer’s alleged breach of contract claim by terminating a £0.6m invoice finance facility and forcing a negotiated settlement • recovered £0.5m from a local authority in settlement of a bank’s assigned invoices, despite allegations of fraud against the assignor

Corporate Lending

Corporate lending disputes include issues over asset management and investment funds; civil fraud; enforcement of bank and non-bank commercial loans and related security; mis-selling complaints; priority of lenders’ charges; and Tomlinson-type allegations of misconduct)

Recent cases: • various corporate and personal guarantee claims on behalf of banks, in circumstances where the corporate borrower has entered an insolvency procedure • defending a breach of trust claim against several asset management companies, following misconceived allegations of fraud against a director • disposing of a £1.5m finance brokerage dispute without the need for court proceedings • pursuing a £25m claim arising from a series of loans between offshore trust companies (with parallel court proceedings in England and the British Virgin Islands)