THE SCOPE OF THE DOCTRINE OF ECONOMIC DURESS

In difficult financial times one party to a contract may be tempted to use its more powerful economic position to extract a concession from its contracting party. When will such pressure amount to duress? A helpful summary of the scope of the doctrine of economic duress was provided by Mr Justice Christopher Clarke in Kolmar Group AG v Traxpo Enterprises Pty Ltd [2010] EWHC 113 (Comm); [2010] 2 Lloyd’s Rep 653, [92].