Latest Cases

Insolvency – Petition. The applicant company's application for a bankruptcy petition succeeded. The Chancery Division dismissed the opposing creditor's application for a second adjournment to consider an IVA. The court made an order on the petition.

Criminal law – Proceeds of crime. The judge had been right to conclude that the defendant had been the beneficial owner of the property subject to a charge and had been right to include the value of that interest in the available assets for the purposes of the confiscation proceedings as he had. Accordingly, the Court of Appeal, Criminal Division, dismissed the defendant's appeal against a confiscation order of £43,344.01, following his conviction for production of cannabis.

Fish – Salmon and trout. The defendant Environment Agency (the Agency) was ordered to pay the first claimant £187, 278 in compensation, following an earlier finding that its decisions to impose conditions on his licence to fish for salmon in the river Severn using a putcher rank, limiting his permitted catch, were each unlawful in the absence of compensation, by reason of their interference with his right to property under art 1 of the First Protocol to the European Convention on Human Rights. The Administrative Court further refused the second claimant permission to proceed with his separate claim against the Agency, holding that, while he was entitled to put forward a claim as a joint holder of the property right infringed, the Agency could not justly be required to pay twice over and the claimants could not both claim the whole loss.

Income tax – Penalty. The taxpayer's appeal against penalites imposed on him by the Revenue and Customs Commissioners (HMRC) for the late filing of individual tax returns pursuant to Sch 55 to the Finance Act 2009 was dismissed by the First-tier Tribunal (Tax Chamber)(the FTT). On appeal, the Upper Tribunal (Tax and Chancery Chamber) dismissed the taxpayer's appeal. The tribunal decided that: (i) on the balance of probabilities, notices to file had been sent to the taxpayer in respect of each of the tax years in question; and (ii) the taxpayer's contention that it had been disproportionate to impose those penalties in circumstances where no tax had been due did not amount to a special circumstance for the purposes of para 16 of Sch 55 to that Act.

Capital allowances – Claims. The words of para 82(1) of Sch 18 to the Finance Act 1998 were clear and unambiguous: a claim for capital allowances could be made at any time up to whichever was the last of the four dates specified in subparagraphs (a), (b), (c) and (d). Consequently, the Upper Tribunal (Tax and Chancery Chamber) dismissed the appeal by the Revenue and Customs Commissioners against the decision of the First-tier Tribunal (Tax Chamber), taking the view that the FTT had correctly held that as the taxpayer's claims for capital allowances had fallen within para 82(1)(b) of Sch 18, they had been timeously made.

Costs – Order for costs. In deciding what order to make about costs in the case of a Norwich Pharmacal order, he judge had adopted the wrong starting point and according the cost order made would be set aside. The Court of Appeal, Civil Division, exercised its discretion to make no order for costs and restated the principles of costs on Norwich Pharmacal application.

Town and country planning – Permission for development. The decisions in both cases to grant planning permission were affected by an error of law related to the failure to undertake appropriate assessment. However, the Administrative Court held that the decision would inevitably have been the same in the first case, but that test was not passed in second case and, therefore, in that latter case the defendant Secretary of State's decision to grant planning permission had to be quashed.

Bankruptcy – Order. The applicant's application to annul a bankruptcy order made against him failed. The Chancery Division held that the applicant's conduct demonstrated a wholesale disregard for the orders of the Court and the procedures that it had in place for dealing with cases justly and at proportionate cost. Further, it was not appropriate to stay the application pending payment of outstanding costs liabilities in circumstances where the source of funds remained unknown and there was a real question as to whether they were monies within the bankruptcy estate.

Contempt of court – Committal. Tommy Robinson was committed to prison for a period of 19 weeks and had to be released once half of that period had been served. The Divisional Court imposed that penalty for his reckless disobedience of an important court order imposed to protect the integrity of a trial and subsequent trials, and of conduct which created a substantial risk of a serious impediment to the integrity of the trial process.

Value added tax – Input tax. The provision of the cars by the taxpayer NHS Trust to its employees under a salary sacrifice scheme (the car scheme) could not be regarded as a supply of services because it had been de-supplied by the Value Added Tax (Treatment of Transactions) Order 1992, SI 1992/630. It followed that the leasing of the cars by the Trust could not be an economic activity because that required a supply of services. However, pursuant to s 41(3) of the Value Added Tax Act 1994 and para 3 of the Contracted Out Services Direction, the four-year limit imposed by the Revenue and Customs Commissioners was reasonable. Consequently, the Upper Tribunal (Tax Chamber) allowed the Trust's claim for recovery of all of the VAT incurred in relation to the car scheme but limited the claim to the period from 1 October 2012 to 31 January 2017.