Latest Cases

Insurance – Transfer of long-term insurance business. The Companies Court granted an order, among other things, sanctioning an insurance business transfer scheme to transfer the applicant company, The Copenhagen Reinsurance Company (U.K) Ltd's entire insurance business to another company in the Enstar group. 

Town and country planning – Permission for development. The Administrative Court dismissed the claimant's challenge to the decision of the first defendant Secretary of State, dismissing its appeal against the refusal of planning permission for two alternative developments. There had been no misinterpretation of the National Planning Policy Framework, and no error with respect to the five-year housing supply or the discount of the claimant's proposed contribution to a bridge. 

Value added tax – Exemptions. The Court of Appeal, Civil Division, in allowing the appellant taxpayers' appeal, held that there was no hard and fast rule or presumption about inter-player participation in a 'game' for the purposes of the Gaming Act 1968, and the First-tier Tribunal (Tax Chamber) had made no error of law in having concluded that 'Spot the Ball' was a 'game of chance'. 

Contract – Breach. The Privy Council dismissed the appellant's appeal against, among other things, a decision that a clause in a lease of part of a resort, granted by the appellant to the respondent, did not restrict the respondent's right to claim damages for breach of contract. It held that, absent any indication in the wording of the clause in the context of the lease as a whole that the 'penalty fee' was to be in substitution for common law damages for breach of contract, the fee would be construed as an additional charge on the occurrence of an interruption caused by a breach of contract. 

Practice – Pre-trial or post judgment relief. The Chancery Division allowed the claimants' application for a notification injunction, by which they would be notified if the defendants sought to dispose of certain assets. The claimants alleged that they had been caused to enter into business projects that had disadvantaged them and advantaged the defendants, as a result of intimidation by the defendants. The court held that, on the evidence and taking into account that the proposed notification injunction was less intrusive than a freezing order, it was appropriate to conclude that there was a risk of dissipation. 

Medical practitioner – Appeal against determination of disciplinary committee. The Administrative Court dismissed the appellant registered nurse's appeal against the decision of the respondent Conduct and Competence Committee (the CCC) of the Nursing and Midwifery Council, finding her fitness to practise impaired and striking her name off the register. Having reached the findings it had, the CCC's conclusions as to impairment and sanction had been fully and carefully considered, and it had been entitled to reach the conclusion it had. 

Agent – Duty to principal. The Chancery Division allowed in part the claimant company's claim that the defendant, B, had made unauthorised payments into certain accounts in the course of managing investments and securities. The court held that B had not been authorised to make the payments, and had acted in breach of duty. He was liable to compensate the claimant for breach of the duty he owed to it as its agent. 

Medical practitioner – Disciplinary proceedings. The Administrative Court, in dismissing the claimant British Medical Association's application for judicial review, held that para 6(b) of the Schedule to the General Medical Council (Legal Assessor and Legally Qualified Persons) Rules Order of Council 2015, SI 2015/1958, which provided that a legally qualified tribunal chair did not need to advise other panel members on any question of law in the presence of the parties after deliberations had begun, was neither contrary to the requirements of art 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights or common law fairness, nor otherwise unlawful. 

Prisoner – Rehabilitation. Court of Session: Dismissing a judicial review petition by a prisoner who was subject to an order for lifelong restriction with a punishment part of 7 years' imprisonment and who sought judicial review of a failure by the Scottish Ministers to assess him for rehabilitative course work and their associated policy, the court rejected the petitioner's contentions that by failing to assess him for rehabilitative course work and by adopting policy they had in prioritising assessments for such course work the respondents had failed in their duty to provide him with a reasonable opportunity to rehabilitate himself and demonstrate to the Parole Board at point of his punishment part expiry date that he no longer represented an unacceptable danger to the public and that those failings constituted breaches of their duties at common law and under arts 5 and 14 of the European Convention on Human Rights. 

Limitation of actions – Prescription – Triennium. Court of Session: In an action, raised in July 2015, in which the pursuer sought reparation for sexual and physical abuse allegedly suffered in the early 1960s whilst at a boarding school run by the defenders, the court did not accept that it had been established on a balance of probabilities that the pursuer attended the school on or after 26 September 1964, which meant that the whole of his claim had been extinguished by the long negative prescription; even if that was wrong his action was now time-barred because the triennium was long expired; and even if some or all of his claim had not been extinguished by the long negative prescription the court would have refused to exercise its discretionary power in favour of allowing the action to proceed.