Court of Appeal Judgment in Soleymani v Nifty Gateway

Russells are delighted to have secured a very successful outcome for Amir Soleymani in his appeal against the online trading platform, Nifty Gateway. The judgment is available here.

The case is notable for a number of legal firsts:

• The first case to consider whether an English consumer invoking consumer rights to invalidate an arbitration agreement can have those rights determined by the English Courts (rather than the arbitral tribunal);
• The first case to consider the implications of the incorporation of the Recast Regulation into English law following Brexit and the hierarchy between arbitration and consumer rights in that Regulation; and
• As far as we are aware, the first case to be considered by the Court of Appeal involving NFTs.

The Court of Appeal overturned a stay of our client’s proceedings ordered earlier this year by the lower Court in favour of arbitration and directed instead that there be a trial as to whether the arbitration clause contained in Nifty Gateway’s Terms of Use is unfair (and therefore unenforceable as against Mr Soleymani) under the Consumer Rights Act 2015.

As noted in the Court’s judgment :

“The case Mr Soleymani is seeking to make has implications for consumers in general in this jurisdiction and it is important that they are considered and ruled upon in public in a court.”

Steven Tregear, Dan Hoyle and Alice Rudge acted on behalf of Mr Soleymani. Previous articles in relation to this case are available on our website here and here.