Latest Cases

Value added tax – Input tax. The Court of Appeal, Civil Division, allowed an appeal by the Revenue and Customs Commissioners against a decision of the Upper Tribunal (Tax and Chancery Chamber) which had allowed the taxpayers' appeal against a determination that they were not entitled to a repayment of VAT as they should have known that their purchases were connected with fraud. The Upper Tribunal had erred in a number of respects, including have addressed the evidence in a compartmentalised fashion, and the earlier determination of the First-tier Tribunal, that the only reasonable explanation which the taxpayers could have drawn from their prior knowledge and the circumstances was that the relevant transactions were connected with a fraud by a previous buyer was reinstated. 

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. 

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. 

Prison – Prisoner. The Administrative Court, in dismissing the claimant determinate sentence prisoner's application for judicial review of the defendant Parole Board's decision not to direct his re-release following his recall to prison, held, among other things, that it could not arguably be said that the Parole Board had applied the wrong test. 

European Union – Medicinal products. The Court of Justice of the European Union dismissed the appeal by Teva Pharma Europe BV and another company by which they sought to have set aside the judgment of the General Court of the European Union in Teva Pharma and another company v European Medicines Agency: Case T‑140/12, in which that court had dismissed their action for annulment of the decision of the European Medicines Agency rejecting their application to place on the market the generic version of the orphan medicinal product imatinib mesylate, in so far as concerned the therapeutic indications for the treatment of chronic myeloid leukaemia. 

Judicial review – Legal aid – Human rights – Right to respect for private and family life. Court of Session: Granting a judicial review petition by a petitioner, who was a complainer in criminal proceedings, and whose application for legal aid to enable her to be represented at a hearing before the sheriff of the accused's petition for recovery of her medical records was refused by the Scottish Ministers, who argued that she had no right to be heard or represented before the sheriff on that application, the court held that a haver and any person whose rights under art 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights might be infringed by an order for recovery of medical records and other sensitive documents must have the application for recovery intimated to them and be given the opportunity to be heard in opposition to the application before an order was made or, at least, before the documents were handed over to the party seeking them: accordingly the court reduced the Scottish Ministers' decision, founded as it was on an error of law as to the complainer's right to be heard, leaving the ministers to make a new decision on a correct legal basis. 

European Union – Jurisdiction. The Court of Justice of the European Union gave a preliminary ruling concerned the interpretation of Regulation (EC) No 1896/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council. The request had been made in proceedings between Flight Refund Ltd, a company established in the United Kingdom, and Deutsche Lufthansa AG, a company established in Germany, concerning a debt in respect of compensation claimed on account of a flight delay. 

European Union – Directives. The Court of Justice of the European Union gave a preliminary ruling concerning the interpretation of art 11(1), read in conjunction with arts 5, 7 and 13, of Directive (EC) 2005/60, as amended by Directive 2010/78/EU. The request had been made in proceedings between Safe Interenvíos SA (Safe), a payment institution, and three credit institutions, concerning the closure by those credit institutions of the accounts held by Safe because they had suspected money laundering. 

Costs – Order for costs. The Queen's Bench Division ruled on liability for costs, pursuant to CPR 36.13(5), following the claimant's acceptance in February 2016 of the defendant NHS trust's CPR Pt 36 offer, which offer had, in fact, expired in June 2015, it having been made earlier that month. 

Education – School closure. Sheriff Court: Dismissing an appeal by an education authority against a decision of the School Closure Review Panel, refusing to consent to the authority's proposal to close four primary schools in North West Skye, the court held that the panel had not erred in law in finding that the appellant had failed in a significant regard to have special regard to the rural factors set out in s 12 of the Schools (Consultation) (Scotland) Act 2010.