Latest Cases

National Health Service – Northern Ireland Commissioner for Complaints. The Supreme Court dismissed an appeal by the applicant wife of the deceased against a finding of the Court of Appeal that the Complaints Commissioner of Northern Ireland did not have the power to recommend monetary redress at all in a case where the Commissioner had found failings in the medical practice where the deceased had been treated. The court held, among other things, that it could not have been proper for the Commissioner to recommend a payment of money and to threaten to report on the respondent's failure to pay it. 

Commons – Registration. The Court of Appeal, Civil Division, dismissed the claimants' appeal against the dismissal of their claim for judicial review of the defendant commons registration authority's decision refusing their application to register rights of common under the Commons Act 2006 on the basis that a right of common could not be created by prescription after 2 January 1970 over land that had been registered as common land under the Commons Registration Act 1965. 

Damages – Personal injury. The Queen's Bench Division held that it had been proved on the evidence that the deceased had suffered an actionable injury as a result of the totality of his exposure to asbestos, to which the defendant had made a material contribution and there was no need to prove that the contribution of itself had given rise to a discernible or measurable injury. 

Shipping – Charterparty. The Supreme Court, in allowing the appellant charterer's appeal, held that the arrest of the respondent owner's vessel, due to a dispute between the receiver of cargo and the sub-sub charterer, could not be regarded as having been occasioned by the charterer's agents in the sense in which that word had been used in the time charter. 

Discrimination – Nationality, on the grounds of. The Court of Appeal, Civil Division, dismissed the claimants' appeal against the rejection of their judicial review challenge of the government's scheme to provide assistance to Afghan locally employed staff who had been employed during the military engagement in Afghanistan. The Divisional Court had been correct to find that the court had no jurisdiction to entertain the claims of discrimination on grounds of nationality under Pts 3 and 5 of the Equality Act 2010 and to have rejected the discrimination claim brought under the common law. The grant of declaratory relief rather than quashing the scheme had been an exercise of the court's discretion that could not be faulted. 

Negligence – Liability. The Queen's Bench Division in a clinical negligence case in relation to an unsuccessful eye operation dismissed the claimant's case against the defendant NHS Trust on the basis of the defendant's case that the vitreous on the claimant's left eye remained attached and that was sufficient for the defendant's case to prevail on the issue of breach of duty. 

Highway – Definitive map. The Planning Court dismissed the claimant's challenge to the decision of the inspector for the defendant Secretary of State, confirming the local planning authority's order modifying the area definitive rights of way map to show footpaths, with a modification. The evidence provided a rational basis for the inspector's conclusion and his conclusion had not needed more extensive reasoning. 

Local authority – Statutory powers. The Administrative Court allowed the claimant local authority's application for judicial review of the defendant Secretary of State's decision that advice given by a primary authority had been correct and confirming its direction stopping the authority from taking enforcement action with respect to the provision of sanitary appliances free of charge. The advice had not been correct and the error had been material. 

Sentence – Criminal damage. The Court of Appeal, Criminal Division, held that a sentence of 32 months' imprisonment for a conviction of threatening to destroy or damage property, had been excessive, given the distinctions between the present case and the authority of R v Reader ([2014] EWCA Crim 2145). Accordingly, the sentence would be quashed and substituted for a term of seven months' imprisonment. 

European Union – Directives. The Court of Justice of the European Union determined that provisions of European Parliament and Council Directive (EU) 2014/40, which prohibited the placing on the market of tobacco products with a characterising flavour, were valid and dismissed the applicant's claim for a declaration of invalidity.