Latest Cases

Shipping – Cargo. The Commercial Court dismissed the appellant seller's challenge to the award of an arbitration tribunal in a case concerning alleged deficiencies in the fluidity and mean maximum reflectance of a cargo of coal, by which the seller had been ordered to pay damages and costs to the claimant buyers. The court refused the seller and extension of time to bring its challenge and held that, although there was some force in certain of the seller's points, they did not justify the conclusion that there had been serious irregularity falling within s 68(2)(a) or (c) of the Arbitration Act 1996. 

Extradition – Extradition order. The Divisional Court dismissed the appellants' appeals against the judge's decision, sending their cases to the Secretary of State, who ordered the appellants' extradition to Peru to face trial for drug trafficking. The assurances provided by Peru applied to the second appellant Italian national as to the first appellant British national, and the appellants' rights under arts 3 and 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights would not be breached. 

Immigration – Detention. In dismissing the appeal of the claimant Nigerian national against the refusal of her application for permission for her claim for judicial review to proceed in circumstances where she had been detained pending deportation, the Supreme Court considered issues arising from the appeal relating, among other things, to the lawfulness of her detention and the policy of the Secretary of State for the Home Department in respect of the detention of the mentally ill pending deportation. 

Income tax – Tax advantage. The Court of Appeal, Civil Division, allowed the Revenue and Customs Commissioners' appeal against a finding that it had issued a valid Closure Notice in respect of an enquiry into the taxpayer's corporation tax self-assessment return. The court dismissed the taxpayer's cross-appeal against a finding that the disregard provisions in para 28 of Sch 26 to the Finance Act 2002 had not applied in the circumstances its case. 

European Union – Trade marks. The General Court of the European Union dismissed the action brought by Niagara Bottling LLC (Niagara) against the decision of the Fifth Board of Appeal of the European Union Intellectual Property Office, concerning the international registration designating the European Union of the word mark 'NIAGARA', which Niagara sought to register as a European Union trade mark. The General Court upheld the Board's decision that the sign at issue was descriptive of the characteristics of the goods and services in respect of which registration was sought, within the meaning of art 7(1)(c) of Council Regulation (EC) No 207/2009. 

Practice – Striking out. The Chancery Division dismissed the defendant banks' application to strike out parts of a claim arising from the extension of a loan facility to a company that managed business parks, which had entered administration. The court allowed in part an application by the claimants to amend the claim, in that it was necessary to refine the proposed amended pleading in order to refer solely to the named individuals who had been employed by the banks at the time of the alleged conspiracy, for whom it was vicariously liable. 

Criminal law – Costs. The Queen's Bench Division in an application under s 19 of the Prosecution of Offences Act 1985 and reg 3 of the Costs in Criminal Cases (General) Regulations 1986 SI 1335/86 held that the decision to prosecute an NHS Trust and a doctor or the continuation of the prosecution was not improper. It was based on expert evidence which was put forward with some force and clarity. 

Contract – Construction. The Court of Appeal, Civil, Division, allowed the first defendant's appeal against the judge's finding that it had been in breach of an exclusive supply agreement, under which it agreed to purchase from the first claimant all its requirements of certain electric motors and leadframe assemblies identified or covered by it, by purchasing 'Gen 2' motors from another firm. On the principal issue, it held that it had not been open to the judge to have interpreted the terms of the agreement in the way he had. 

Civil procedure – Assignation – Purported assignation of damages claim. Sheriff Court: In an action in which the pursuer claimed to be the assignee of a company's claim for damages against the defender, who was the arbiter in arbitration proceedings involving the company and another company, the party minuter, the court held that the pursuer had no title to pursue the company's rights and, accordingly, he had no title to sue in the proceedings, the action was incompetent, any right of action which the pursuer might have had to claim damages had now been extinguished by prescription, and the action as a whole was irrelevant. 

Firearms – Prohibited weapons. The Court of Appeal, Criminal Division, held that the Firearms Act 1982, of itself, had not created any offence. It had widened the scope of the Firearms Act 1968 so as to cover imitation firearms which were readily convertible into firearms to which s 1 of the 1968 Act applied. Accordingly, in the particular circumstances, the defendant's appeal against a conviction for possessing a prohibited firearm, contrary to s 5(1)(aba) of the 1968 Act, would be dismissed.