Latest Cases

Personal Injury: Quantum Case. Road traffic accident. PSLA of £2,200 with total damages of £3,330. The claimant suffered musculo-ligamentous strain to the cervical/upper thoracic region as a result of being hit from behind by the defendant's car. 

Industrial training – Levy. The Administrative Court dismissed the claimant company's application for judicial review of the Industrial Training Levy (Construction Industry Training Board) Order 2015, SI 2015/701, in particular, art 7(2) of the Order which, read with art 7(3) and (4) of the Order, set the formula for calculating the amount of levy due in the third of three levy periods. The Order was not ultra vires, unfair or unlawful because it violated classic public law principles. 

Children and young persons – Jurisdiction. The Court of Appeal, Civil Division, dismissed a mother's appeal against an order of the court that prevented her from naming her two children (who had been taken into care) 'Cyanide' and 'Preacher'. The naming of a child was an act of parental responsibility, the extent of which could be determined by a local authority. There was no restriction in the Children Act 1989 preventing an authority from overruling a parent in relation to a forename, but that was subject to a parent's rights under art 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights. The judge had erred in finding that the authority could determine the mother's choice of name pursuant to s 33(3)(b) of the 1989 Act, where the proper route was for the matter to be put before the High Court by way of an application to invoke its inherent jurisdiction under s 100 of that Act. 

Insolvency – Bankruptcy. The Chancery Division held that, providing the claimant gave certain undertakings, it would grant permission to appeal and allow an appeal and set aside a bankruptcy order made in respect of the claimant on the petition of a local authority. The petition had been based on council tax liability orders, which the claimant disputed. The court held that the judge ought to have adjourned the bankruptcy petition in order to await the outcome of the claimant's appeal to the Valuation Tribunal in respect of the liability orders. 

Health and safety – Health and safety inspector. The Administrative Court allowed the appellant health and safety inspector's appeal against the decision of the employment tribunal, cancelling a notice prohibiting the respondent from carrying out further roofing works. The tribunal had failed to determine whether it would have issued the notice based on the information that the inspector had known, or ought to have known, when he had issued the notice and to recognise that, subject to reasonable practicality, the respondent had been obliged to provide sufficient work equipment to prevent a fall or minimise the distance and consequences of a fall. 

Personal Injury: Quantum Case. Medical negligence. PSLA of £10,000 with total damages of £17,500. The claimant suffered pain in her teeth, eventually leading to bone loss in the jaw and bone graft implantation surgery, as a result of the defendant's failure to carry out root canal treatment to treat an infection. 

Income tax – Capital gains. The Upper Tribunal (Tax and Chancery Chamber) allowed the appeal by the Revenue and Customs Commissioners against a decision of the First-tier Tribunal (Tax Chamber), following a joint reference to it by the taxpayer and the Revenue, that corporate bonds purchased by the taxpayer and subsequently realised in whole or in part were qualifying corporate bonds within s 117 of the Taxation of Chargeable Gains Act 1992 and thereby qualified for the exemption from capital gains tax contained in s 115 of that Act. 

Insurance – Contract of insurance. The Court of Appeal, Civil Division, ruled on the true construction of an aggregation clause contained in an insurance policy applicable to all solicitors' indemnity policies, pursuant to the requirement in the Solicitors' Act 1974 for compulsory liability insurance for solicitors and the Minimum Terms and Conditions required to be incorporated into such polices. The true construction of the words 'in a series of matters or transactions' was that the matters or transactions had to have an intrinsic relationship with each other, not an extrinsic relationship with a third factor. 

Immigration – Appeal. The Upper Tribunal (Immigration and Asylum Chamber) quashed the decision of the defendant First-tier Tribunal (Immigration and Asylum Chamber) (the FTT), granting the Secretary of State an extension of time to appeal against its decision allowing the claimant's application for permission to appeal against the Secretary of State's decision to remove him to Italy. In consequence, its decision granting permission to appeal was also quashed. It could not be determined whether the FTT had undertaken the required three-stage process and it had failed to give reasons. 

European Union – Trade marks. The General Court of the European Union dismissed the action brought by Henkell & Co. Sektkellerei KG (Henkell) against the decision of the First Board of Appeal of the European Union Intellectual Property Office (Trade Marks and Designs), relating to opposition proceedings between Henkell and Ciacci Piccolomini d'Aragona di Bianchini Società Agricola, regarding the application by the latter for registration of the word sign 'Piccolomini' as a Community trade mark.