Latest Cases

European Union – State aids. The Court of Justice of the European Union dismissed the action brought by Greece by which Greece sought to have set aside the judgment of the General Court of the European Union of 16 July 2014 in Greece v Commission: Case T‑52/12, in which the General Court had dismissed its action for annulment of Commission Decision 2012/157/EU of 7 December 2011 concerning compensation payments made by the Greek Agricultural Insurance Organisation (ELGA) in 2008 and 2009. 

Criminal law – Rape. The Court of Appeal, Criminal Division, held that a sentence of 24 months' imprisonment, suspended for 24 months, imposed for a category 3B rape had been unduly lenient and would consequently be quashed. In all the circumstances, a sentence of two-years-and-six months' imprisonment would be imposed accordingly. 

Practice – Pre-trial or post-judgment relief. The Queen's Bench Division continued a freezing injunction against the first respondent, against whom judgment had been granted in favour of the applicants, and discharged ab initio the freezing injunction against his wife, the second respondent, in respect of whom no judgment had been granted. The eagerness with which the applicants had approached the seeking of freezing relief against the first respondent had misled them into an approach that targeted particular assets in a proprietary way, and thence to obtaining, wrongly, a wholesale freezing order against the second respondent. 

European Union – Trade marks. The General Court of the European Union dismissed the action brought by The Body Shop International plc (The Body Shop) against the decision of the Fourth Board of Appeal of the Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market (Trade Marks and Designs), relating to opposition proceedings between The Body Shop and Spa Monopole, compagnie fermière de Spa SA/NV concerning the application by the former for registration of the word sign 'SPA WISDOM' as a Community trade mark. 

European Union – Customs duties. The Court of Justice of the European Union gave a preliminary ruling concerning the Combined Nomenclature set out in Annex I to Council Regulation (EEC) No 2658/87, as amended by Commission Regulation (EC) No 948/2009, and decided that it had to be interpreted as meaning that a soya protein concentrate, such as that at issue in the main proceedings, came under heading 2309 of that nomenclature. 

European Union – Trade marks. The General Court of the European Union dismissed the action brought by LG Developpement (LG) against the decision of the Fourth Board of Appeal of the Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market (Trade Marks and Designs), relating to opposition proceedings between Bayerische Motorenwerke AG and LG, concerning the application by the latter for registration of a figurative sign 'MINICARGO' as a Community trade mark. 

Company – Member. The Chancery Division dismissed a petition brought by a minority shareholder and employee of a company, under s 994 of the Companies Act 2006, alleging that he had been the victim of unfair conduct by the majority shareholders in the company after he had been dismissed and the compulsory transfer of his shares mechanism in the company's articles of association had been invoked. The relationship between the parties could not be described as a quasi-partnership. The present cases concerned an arm's length deal on agreed documentation; it was not a venture founded on the sort of considerations which were likely to give rise to the possibility of overriding equitable considerations under s 994 of the Act. 

Water supply – Supply of water for domestic purposes. The Commercial Court dismissed the claimant company's claim that it was owed additional sums under a contract to reflect an uplift in carbon credit for devices sold be the claimant to be installed in showers, which reduced water and energy consumption. The court held that the price payable was the fixed price that the parties had agreed, without the market transformation uplift sought by the claimant. 

Medical treatment – Human fertilisation. The Queen's Bench Division dismissed an appeal from a master striking out the defendant fertility clinic's counterclaim in relation to the claimant regulatory authority's claim for fees in respect of unpaid fees in connection with the defendant's provision of IVF treatment cycles. The case remained struck out with the claimant to be awarded its cost. 

Negligence – Cause of action. The Queen's Bench Division held that the claimant had failed to establish liability on the part of the defendant bank for any exposure to asbestos during the course of her employment from 1978 to 1986 and therefore her claim for personal injury for mesothelioma against the defendant failed.