Litigation podcast series – The doctrine of economic duress in commercial transactions
For the first time, the Supreme Court has considered the doctrine of economic duress in its recent judgment in Pakistan International Airline Corp v Times Travel (UK) Ltd [2021] UKSC 40 (“PIA”).
While it is well established that the threat of an unlawful act can give rise to economic duress, the question of whether a threat to carry out a lawful act (such as threatening to lawfully terminate a contract) can amount to actionable economic duress has been more controversial and uncertain. In PIA, the Supreme Court considered whether the threat of a lawful act can amount to economic duress and the criteria for determining this.
In short, the answer was yes – the threat of a lawful act can constitute economic duress, however the threshold is a high one in commercial scenarios.
During this podcast, Zahira Hussain discusses why.
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Also available Episode 1, Episode 2, Episode 3 and Episode 4.
This podcast is 9 minutes in length
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