Tag: Norton Rose Fulbright South Africa

Claimants who sue the State often have to apply for condonation for late notice, because the State must be notified of an intention to sue within 6 months of an incident occurring, and many claimants are unaware of this special time restriction.

An option to renew a lease at a rental to be agreed between landlord and tenant, failing which to be determined by a third party, was not validly renewed by the lessee offering an increased rent that was unacceptable to the landlord and then not invoking the process for third party determination.

With the increasing number of COVID-19 infections, employers must deal with employees who test positive for the virus, those who come into contact with individuals who test positive, and those who present with COVID-19 related symptoms. It is therefore important for employers to understand when sick leave must be used.

In April 2020 the UK Supreme Court had reason to discuss the difference between ‘significant’ and ‘substantial’ in the context of what is a ‘significant reduction in life expectancy’. The court said that ‘like the skin of a chameleon, the adjective takes a different colour so as to suit a different context’.

On 22 June 2020, the effective commencement of the Protection of Personal Information Act 2013 (POPI) was gazetted as 1 July 2020.

Businesses who are not providing essential services are likely to be directly and severely affected by the lockdown. For those businesses occupying leased premises, while they may retain the use of the leased premises for certain functions, for example storage of their goods and equipment, they will be deprived of the full use and enjoyment of the premises because they cannot continue to conduct trade or conduct business at the premises for the period of the shutdown.

A signature communicated through an electronic medium like email correspondence is not a binding signature unless agreed to by the parties. In the absence of such agreement, a signature will only be valid if it appears in manuscript form regardless of the medium of communication. When entering into contracts, explicit provision must be made regarding what is meant by ‘signature’.

If you haven’t already dusted off the business interruption, liability and event cancellation policies you have underwritten, or placed for an insured, and checked for coronavirus coverage, now is the time to do so.  

An interview with Yasmine Wilson, Associate, Norton Rose Fulbright, and Dr Ivor Blumenthal, CEO, ArkKonsult, discussing the impact of COVID-19 on force majeure clauses in contracts.

Will the corona virus (COVID-19) constitute a force majeure event under South African law? The answer to that is it depends.