Latest Cases

Damages – Measure of damages. The Queen's Bench Division assessed damages under various heads including general damages in a case where liability had been admitted by the defendant company following the death of the claimant's husband from mesothelioma. 

Child – Custody. The Family Division granted Madonna permission to withdraw proceedings brought by her, under the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction, for the summary return of her son to the United States. It held that r 29.4 of the Family Procedure Rules, SI 2010/2955, applied to applications in proceedings under the Hague Convention and, accordingly, the permission of the court was required to withdraw such proceedings. It ruled that, applying settled law to the facts, in circumstances where the mother and the father accepted that the Supreme Court of the State of New York had jurisdiction in the present matter, there were positive merits to permitting the mother to withdraw her application in the present jurisdiction. 

Claim form – Service. The Court of Appeal, Civil Division, dismissed an appeal against the refusal to validate service of a claim form under CPR 6.15. There had been no error in law in the judge's approach in circumstances where there had not been a good reason not to have correctly effected service on the defendant within time. 

Minor – Custody. The Family Division held that the father's defences under arts 12 and 13 of the Hague Convention on Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction 1980 had not been made out and the two children retained by him in the United Kingdom had to be returned to Spain where their mother resided and where they had been habitually resident. 

Immigration – Leave to remain – Right to family life. Court of Session: Refusing an appeal by a Pakistani national against a decision of the Upper Tribunal adhering to a decision of the First Tier Tribunal (FTT) upholding the respondent's decision to refuse his application for leave to remain in the UK as the spouse of a British citizen, the court held that the FTT was entitled to conclude that the appellant's case did not amount to a disproportionate interference with his or his wife's rights under art 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights: there were no weighty or exceptional factors which could have justified granting leave outwith the Immigration Rules on the basis of art 8 proportionality. 

Capital gains tax – Assessment. The Court of Appeal, Civil Division, dismissed a taxpayer's appeal against a finding that there was no right to a separate preliminary hearing to determine whether, under s 29 of the Taxes Management Act 1970, the Revenue and Customs Commissioners had validly made a discovery assessment. 

Sentence – Sexual offences against children. The Court of Appeal, Criminal Division, held that a community order for 3 years, with a rehabilitation activity requirement for 60 days, for 8 counts of sexual activity with a child aged 14, had not been unduly lenient in the particular circumstances of the present case. 

Public procurement – Tender process. Court of Session: Pronouncing decree of absolvitor in action in which the unsuccessful bidders in a competition for the award by the defenders of a contract for the provision of ferry services sought damages, contending that the defenders breached the duty of transparency imposed by reg 4(3) of the Public Contracts (Scotland) Regulations 2006 in two respects, the court rejected contentions that the defenders had failed to define the subject matter of the contract with the clarity required by law and that their evaluation of the freight proposals in the bids which had been submitted had been carried out without reference to any objective criteria. 

Town and country planning – Development. The Court of Appeal, Civil Division, ruled on two conjoined appeals concerning the meaning and effect of para 49 of the National Planning Policy Framework (the NPPF). Among other things, it held that, '[relevant] policies for the supply of housing', meant 'relevant policies affecting the supply of housing'. A 'relevant' policy was simply a policy relevant to the application for planning permission before the decision-maker, relevant either because it was a policy relating specifically to the provision of new housing in the local planning authority's area or because it bore upon the principle of the site in question being developed for housing. 

European Union – Agricultural products and foodstuffs. The Court of Justice of the European Union gave a preliminary ruling, decising that art 27(4)(a) and Annex VI, points (1) and (2), of Regulation (EC) No 882/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council should be interpreted as precluding member states, when they prescribed the fees charged to food sector establishments, from including the costs connected to the compulsory basic training of official auxiliaries.