HW & WW: Husband fails with claim that pandemic is a Barder event
Image: Public Domain, via Piqsels Since it struck there has been much discussion in family law circles of the question: could the pandemic constitute a Barder event? The case HW & WW , decided by His Honour Judge Kloss in the Family Court at Leeds in March, confirms that it could, at least in theory. But the bar remains high, and Judge Kloss clearly does not anticipate a flood of successful pandemic-based Barder applications. The parties in HW & WW reached an agreed settlement at an FDR on the 12th of March last year. A consent order, approved by the judge on the following day, included provisions whereby the husband was to pay to the wife a series of lump sums totalling £1,000,000 by 12/4/22, the first lump sum of £750,000 payable by 10/6/20. The primary asset was the husband's company, which trades in the wholesale distribution of commercial photocopiers, printers and associated computer software solutions. The company was valued at the time of the order at some £3,500
