Latest Cases

Family proceedings – Orders in family proceedings. The Court of Appeal, Civil Division, in dismissing the appellant local authority's appeal against an order designating it as the authority responsible for an eight-month-old baby, held that, given that the test for ordinary residence was one of fact and should not be made into an overly complicated exercise, there was no basis for concluding that the judge's decision was perverse. It had been reasoned and clear and, in all the circumstances, unassailable. 

European Union – Trade marks. The General Court of the European Union dismissed the action brought by Franmax UAB (Franmax) against the decision of the Fifth Board of Appeal of the European Union Intellectual Property Office concerning opposition proceedings between Ehrmann AG Oberschönegg im Allgäu and Franmax, regarding the application by the latter for registration of a figurative sign 'Dino', depicting a dinosaur, as a European Union trade mark. 

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. 

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. 

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. 

Contempt of court – Committal. The Court of Appeal, Civil Division, dismissed an appeal against a finding that the appellant had been in breach of a freezing order and, therefore, in contempt of court. The judge had been entitled to reach the conclusion that he had on the evidence that had been before him and it was impossible to say that the penalty imposed (a suspended sentence of imprisonment) had been excessive. 

Companies – Shareholders – Unfair prejudice. Sheriff Court: In an unfair prejudice petition under s 994 of the Companies Act 2006, in which the petitioner moved the court to allow the petition to be amended and thereafter to grant warrant for diligence by arrestment on the dependence of the action under s 15A of the Debtors (Scotland) Act 1987, the court was satisfied that the petitioner's minute of amendment should be allowed and the petition amended in terms thereof, and that it was competent in principle to grant arrestment on the dependence in the action; however the petitioner's motion for warrant to arrest on the dependence was refused as she had failed to satisfy the court that the statutory grounds for granting the order sought had been made out. 

European Union – Common foreign and security policy. The Court of Justice of the European Union, Fifth Chamber, dismissed the Council of the European Union's appeal against the annulment of Council Decisions to include the applicant Iranian bank on a list of persons or entities regarded as being involved in nuclear proliferation in Annex II to Council Decision 2010/413 and repealing and Implementing Regulation No 668/2010, and other Decisions, in so far as those acts concerned the applicant. 

Negligence – Personal injury. The Court of Appeal (Civil Division) dismissed the claimant's appeal in a personal injury action against the judge's finding that the claimant had not been found by him to be a credible witness and that on the balance of probabilities the claimant had not satisfied him of the account as he had changed significant details. The court held that the judge had been entitled to so find.