Latest Cases

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. 

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. 

Company – Administration order. The Chancery Division made a ruling with regard to the solvency of he defendant company, Lehman Brothers UK Holdings Ltd, which was in administration. The court held that the solvency condition in the standard terms of three loan agreements would be satisfied in the case of the defendant. As a result, the claimant company was entitled to the relief that it claimed as a creditor of the defendant. 

Solicitor – Negligence. The Court of Appeal, Civil Division, dismissed the claimants' appeal in respect of the applicable measure of damages, which arose out of the admitted negligence on the part of the defendant solicitors' firm in respect of a property transaction. In upholding the judge's award of £250, representing the cost of an application to the local authority to remove a planning restriction on the property, it held that, by reason of the subsequent removal of the restriction, the claimants had suffered no loss and there was nothing in respect of which they required to be compensated. 

Parent and child – Specific issue order – Relocation. Sheriff Court: In a case in which the mother of two young boys, aged 10 and 4, sought a specific issue order permitting her to relocate with them to Exeter, the court refused to make the order sought as it was not satisfied that the proposed relocation was in the children's best interests or that it was better that such an order be made than no order be made at all. 

European Union – Customs duties. The Court of Justice of the European Union gave a preliminary ruling, deciding that the Combined Nomenclature listed in Annex 1 to Council Regulation (EEC) No 2658/87 had to be interpreted as meaning that a stand-alone device designed to retrieve, receive and stream digital audio files in the form of amplified sound, such as that at issue in the main proceedings, should, subject to the referring court's assessment of all of the facts which it had available to it, be classified under tariff heading 8519 of that nomenclature. 

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. 

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. 

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. 

European Union – Freedom of movement. The Court of Justice of the European Union gave a preliminary ruling, deciding that EU law should be interpreted as meaning that where, in accordance with the applicable national law, a plea alleging infringement of national law raised for the first time before the national court hearing an appeal on a point of law was admissible only if that plea was based on public policy, a plea alleging infringement of the right to be heard, as guaranteed by EU law, raised for the first time before that same court, had to be held to be admissible if that right, as guaranteed by national law, satisfied the conditions required by national law for it to be classified as a plea based on public policy, that being a matter for the referring court to determine.