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Charles Holloway
Contract
Employment and workplace
Landlord and Tenant
Partnership and shareholder disputes
Personal injury and clinical negligence
Professional Negligence
During more than 30 years in private practice principally with Allen & Overy and Eversheds, Charles specialised in Dispute Resolution, heading up the Eversheds East of England Litigation Department for almost 5 years.
His career has been mainly in the field of commercial disputes and involved different forms of dispute resolution including arbitration, litigation and ADR. His cases involved banks, corporates, insurance companies and local authorities in a wide variety of disputes in the County Courts, the High Court and the Court of Appeal.
His practice also involved acting in a number of major personal injury and clinical negligence claims and he has considerable experience acting for the Police in disputes involving claims against individual officers and against the Chief Constable and/or Police Authorities. He was active in setting up the Police Lawyers’ Defence Forum, a national group of private practice solicitors actively defending the police from civil and other claims which was formed in the 1990s and which worked closely with the Association of Police Lawyers. Charles was its first Chairman.
He was involved in a number of high profile public inquiries including the Saville inquiry into Bloody Sunday and Dame Janet Smith’s inquiry into the activities of Harold Shipman. Both inquiries demanded a high degree of tact and diplomacy, listening skills and an awareness of both personal and political sensitivities.
Charles has had considerable experience of mediation when acting for clients and is an accredited mediator with ADR Chambers and a member of the Resolex mediation panel.
His experience covers a wide range of subjects prominent amongst which are:
- Commercial contracts
- Partnership disputes
- Construction disputes
- Employment
- Insurance
- Clinical negligence
- Personal injury
- Mortgage lending
- Police claims
- Professional negligence
- Shareholder disputes
- Intellectual property rights
Examples of his mediation experience are:
- Complex personal injury claim involving substantial damages and including allegations of fraud between claimant and insurers.
- Partnership dispute involving a former husband and wife and their original solicitors and their insurers where allegations of professional negligence were made.
- Commercial dispute between rival manufacturers involving allegations of theft of confidential information, poaching of staff and inducements of breaches of contract as well as intellectual property issues.
- Employment dispute involving allegations of sexual harassment.
- Dispute over promotion prospects at an academic institution where discrimination was alleged.
- Dispute involving issues of adverse possession, easements and rights of way on a city centre site where property investment opportunities were at stake.
- Dispute between composite insurers and their policyholder, the architect and loss adjusters as a result of a claim following a catastrophic fire with allegations of fraud, negligence and breach of contract involving sums in the region of £1 million.
- Building claim involving issues of contract, completion certificates, retentions and allegations of overcharging.
- Building dispute involving allegations of poor workmanship, delay and overcharging.
- Dispute between two airline companies about liability for landing fees and other related contractual issues.
- Dispute between a GP and a PCT.
In addition, Charles has been involved in the following cases of informal mediation:
- Commercial dispute involving claim for damages for breach of warranty.
- Contractual dispute over alleged poaching of employees by rival business.
- Numerous claims for damages for personal injuries and other losses.
- Boundary dispute which threatened to put a property sale at risk which might have given rise to substantial losses if not settled.
- Dispute over alleged negligence of legal advisers who had missed a time limit which potentially gave rise to a limitation defence.
- Contractual claim arising out of the sale of a company involved in the manufacture of air flow measuring instruments.
- Two related disputes between a borrower and a bank over right to possession of mortgaged property.
- Dispute between a borrower and a lender over the right to certain mortgaged assets.
Charles is a committed supporter of mediation as a means of resolving disputes. While also a supporter of facilitative mediation, he understands the need on occasion for the evaluative approach where appropriate. He likes to encourage the parties to have a friendly and polite but realistic discussion and to come to an early assessment of the risks they face by continuing litigation and/or prolonging the dispute so that he can then assist the parties to find the most beneficial solution to their dispute.