The Court of Appeal handed down its judgment in the case of Lamesa Investments Ltd v Cynergy Bank Ltd [2020] EWCA Civ 281 on 30 June 2020. The case appealed a 2019 High Court judgment that found that Cynergy Bank Limited was entitled to refuse to pay interest payments to Lamesa Investments Ltd, under a facility agreement, due to a concern that Cynergy would be subject to US secondary sanctions (please see our previous blog post here).
The Court dismissed the appeal, agreeing with the High Court decision but disagreeing with some of the reasoning.
The case serves as a reminder of the importance in being as clear as possible in sanctions clauses, particularly given the complexity of how US sanctions can apply and the fact that a number of factors will be balanced in interpreting sanctions clauses.
To read about the background of this case, the appeal and key considerations, please see the rest of this article by Sunny Mann, Andrew Rose and Ben Smith at our Sanctions blog here.
