PT-2021-000393 - [2025] EWHC 2749 (Ch)

I recognise that one must adopt an objective approach to the assessment. Objectivity permeates contract law, and indeed many aspects of the other branches of private law. It would be largely meaningless to apply a subjective approach to this question because by definition the parties thought the clause was acceptable – they accepted it, in this case with the benefit of legal advice on both sides.

The point that I was seeking to make in my First Judgment is that LCL had not advanced any reasons, in its factual evidence, for why it had imposed the Default Rate uniformly to all instances of default, such that it was not possible for the experts to comment on or for me to assess whether those reasons, objectively assessed, meant that the rate was not extortionate. I note that the same issue was raised in Cargill (where there was such evidence) and Ahuja (where there was not).