Latest Cases

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. 

Patent – Infringement. The Chancery Division dismissed the claimant companies' claim that the defendant had infringed their patent, European Patent (UK) 1 656 306, entitled 'opening devices for foil closures'. Neither of the defendant's products fell within the scope of either of the claimants' claims. It followed that none of the defendant's acts had infringed the patent. 

Limitation of actions – Prescription. Court of Session: Refusing a reclaiming motion in an action in which the pursuers, who had instructed the defenders, a firm of solicitors, to serve notices to quit on a tenant to terminate agricultural tenancies over three fields, sought damages on account of the defenders' alleged breach of contract in drafting ineffective notices to quit, the court agreed with the approach of the Lord Ordinary, who upheld the defenders' plea of prescription and absolved them, concluding that an application of the interpretation of s 11(3) of the Prescription and Limitation (Scotland) Act 1973 adopted by the majority of the Supreme Court in David T Morrison & Co Ltd v ICL Plastics Ltd required that the reclaiming motion be refused, but also that the pursuers were put on notice as to loss, injury or damage more than five years before the action was raised. 

Negligence – Clinical negligence. The Queen's Bench Division found that the claimant's case on clinical negligence had been made out and that notwithstanding the pressures of a busy labour ward, the system of communication and the response to messages sent between the teams had been inadequate and failed to ensure that a reasonable standard of care had been provided to the claimant and his mother in the period before his birth which had resulted in a period of acute hypoxic-ischemic insult at the end of labour which had led to neurological damage. 

Insolvency – Liquidation – Summary remedy against delinquent directors. Sheriff Court: Refusing an appeal in proceedings brought by the liquidator of a company under s 212 of the Insolvency Act 1986, seeking a summary remedy against the company's sole director, in which the sheriff found that the defender had misapplied certain sums which should have been paid to the company and ordained him to contribute to its assets a sum equal to the total of those sums by way of compensation, the court, after repelling an objection to the competency of note of the appeal, held that although procedural in nature s 212 did provide a summary remedy and that there was no requirement that the court have regard only to actual loss to the company. 

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. 

Building contract – Engineer. The Technology and Construction Court held that, on the true construction of a contract between the parties, the defendant company was entitled to recover payment of liquidated damages from the claimant company without agreement or determination by an engineer of the defendant's entitlement to liquidated damages. 

Partnership – Existence of partnership disputed. The Chancery Division dismissed the claimant's appeal against a chief master's decision granting summary judgment to the defendants on the claimant's claim that a partnership had been created between the parties. The chief master had been entirely right to conclude that, on the evidence, no partnership had been created within the meaning of s 1(1) of the Partnership Act 1890. There was no evidence that the defendants had carried on business themselves and there was no realistic prospect of establishing that they had agreed to become partners for the purposes of the Act. 

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. 

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.