Elliott Associates, L.P. & anr (claimants/appellants) v The London Metal Exchange & anr (defendants/respondents)
Tuesday 9 – Thursday 11 July 2024
The Appellants ELLIOTT ASSOCIATES L.P. and ELLIOTT INTERNATIONAL L.P. appeal the order of 28 November 2023 of Swift J and Bright J by which they dismissed two judicial review claims.
Background – The First Respondent (“the LME”) is the world’s main centre for the trading of industrial metals. The Second Respondent (“LME Clear”) is the clearing house for trading on the LME. The metals traded via the LME include nickel – in particular, nickel due for delivery in three months’ time (“3M nickel”). In early March 2022, nickel prices rose very dramatically. There was a particularly pronounced spike early in the morning of 8 March 2022. At 08:15 on that day, the LME suspended nickel trading. At 12:05, the LME published a notice cancelling all nickel trades entered into on that day before the Suspension. The aggregate value of the cancelled trades was around US$12 billion. The parties affected included the Elliott Claimants who claimed that the Cancellation caused them to lose net profits totalling about US$456 million, which would otherwise have been made on the nickel trades agreed by them between 00:00 on 8 March 2022 and the Suspension at 08:15.
The Claimants sought a declaration that the decisions of the LME and/or LME Clear in relation to the Cancellation were unlawful. They also sought damages to compensate them for their lost profits, on the basis that there has been a breach of their Convention rights under the Human Rights Act 1998 (“HRA 1998”) – specifically, their rights under Article 1 of the First Protocol (“A1P1”).
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