a personal claim separate from the claim of WWH. Taken as a whole their Lordships was satisfied that there was no abuse, although they declined to lay down a definitive test. Their Lordships felt that the courts should take a broad, merit-based approach to account for the public and private interests involved (including a citizen's right of access to the court). Estoppel by convention The House of Lords felt that the point relating to estoppel by convention (i.e. that the parties had contemplated such further action might be brought in the earlier settlement agreement) was tied up in the issue of abuse of process. They noted that the litigation between Mr Johnson and Gore Wood had been ongoing for nearly four and half years before the defendant firm of solicitors sought to strike out the claims on this basis, which was reflective of the parties common understanding that those claims might be pursued, and during that time pleadings had been considerably advanced and they had even made a payment into court. Their Lordships determined that the key issues was whether (i) the settlement of WWH's action proceeded on the basis of an underlying assumption that Mr Johnson would be bringing further claims, and (ii) whether it would be unfair or unjust to now allow Gore Wood to go back on that assumption. Their Lordships held that both grounds were made out. Reflective loss In relation to the issue of reflective loss, Lord Bingham summarised the existing case law in three key propositions: Where a company suffers loss caused by a breach of duty owed to it, only the company may sue in respect of that loss. No action lies at the suit of a shareholder suing in that capacity and no other to make good a diminution in the value of the shareholder's shareholding where that merely reflects the loss suffered by the company. Where a company suffers loss but has no cause of action to sue to recover that loss, the shareholder in the company may sue in respect of it. Where a company suffers loss caused by a breach of duty to it, and a shareholder suffers a loss separate and distinct from that suffered by the company caused by breach of a duty independently owed to the shareholder, each may sue to recover the loss caused to it by breach of the duty owed to it but