Eversheds has successfully defended itself against a High Court negligence claim lodged by Newcastle International Airport.

The airport had alleged that Eversheds had been in breach of its duty when accepting an instruction from former airport chief executive John Parkin and former finance director Lars Friis.

The pair allegedly went on to take multimillion-pound bonuses after Eversheds advised them on a refinancing deal for the airport which saw it secure a £377m mortgage with Royal Bank of Scotland.

However, the firm was found by Mrs Justice Proudman to have acted in "good faith" when acting on instructions from airport executives.

Nicholas Davidson QC of 4 New Square, instructed by Ward Hadaway partner Tim Toomey, argued that Eversheds should have notified the airport's independent remuneration committee that, due to the financial bonuses, the two directors had conflicting interests.

Furthermore, it was alleged that Eversheds should have checked with the committee that the instruction was correct when going on to amend the executives' employment contracts to include the bonus payments.

However, the judge ruled that committee chair Rosemary Radcliffe had been notified of the changes to the contracts but failed to read the detail, suggesting she had a "blindspot of massive proportions".

Eversheds instructed Clyde and Co partner Sarah Clover to defend the claims with representation coming from Ben Patten QC, also of 4 New Square.

In a statement, Eversheds said: "We are pleased to confirm that the judgment in the case with Newcastle Airport International has found in favour of Eversheds.

"The judgment clearly states that Eversheds acted in good faith on the basis of instructions which it was entitled to accept. All of our lawyers are trained to and do deliver work of the highest quality. We hope that this now concludes this matter."

Last night the airport said it is considering appealing the decision.