Latest Cases

Pleading – Amendment. The Queen's Bench Division refused the claimants' application for permission to amend their particulars of claim in their claim alleging defamation and malicious falsehood for reasons including that the proposed amendments could not stand in their present form, included bare assertions, 'smuggles in' a new allegation which needed to be made good by a direct pleading to the effect, if there was evidence to justify it and served no useful purpose. 

European Union – Trade marks. The Court of Justice of the European Union gave a preliminary ruling, deciding that, the first sentence of art 23(1) of Council Regulation (EC) No 207/2009 should be interpreted as meaning that the licensee could bring proceedings alleging infringement of a Community trade mark which was the subject of the licence, although that licence had not been entered in the Register of Community trade marks. 

Practice – Pre-trial or post-judgment relief. The Queen's Bench Division dismissed a claimant's appeal against the dismissal of her application for an interim payment, which had been made in the course of proceedings in which she claimed damages against the defendant NHS trust for personal injuries she alleged she had sustained as a result of clinical negligence. On the present state of the evidence and argument, the court could not be satisfied that, if the claim went to trial, the claimant would obtain judgment for a substantial amount of money. 

Mental health – Court of Protection. The Court of Protection allowed an application by the Public Guardian to revoke a Lasting Power of Attorney made by the patient in favour of C as her sole attorney as according to s 22 of the Mental Capacity Act 2005, C had behaved in a way that contravened his authority and was not in the patient's best interests. 

Landlord and tenant – Opposition to grant of new tenancy of business premises. The Court of Appeal, Civil Division, allowed a landlord's appeal in respect of a declaration that he had not established his entitlement to rely on s 30(1)(g) of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954 and an order that a new tenancy of business premises should be granted by the landlord to the tenant. The case was remitted for a re-trial before a different judge. 

Sentence – Mandatory life sentence. The Administrative Court recommended that the offender's tariff for a murder was reduced by one year to seventeen years, less four months spent on remand. His transformation from a racist thug into a sensible, realistic young man satisfied the high threshold for a reduction in the minimum term imposed by a sentencing judge on a young offender. 

Local authority – Residential care home. The Court of Appeal, Civil Division, allowed the defendant NHS local health boards in Wales' appeal against the decision that their determination of a flat-rate payment to care homes, reflecting the estimated cost of the nursing element of the care required by each resident, but not the social care element, was unlawful. The distinction between nursing and social care services in s 49 of the Health and Social Care Act 2001 was effectively unrecognised in the judge's reasoning. 

Patent – Infringement. The Patents Court made rulings in a claim concerning transgenic mice that could be used as platforms for therapeutic antibody discovery. In dismissing the claim of Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, the court held that the defendants' counterclaim for insufficiency in the patent succeeded, and hence all the patents in issue were invalid. 

Employment – Discrimination. The Employment Appeal Tribunal (the EAT), allowing the employee's appeal, held that an employment tribunal (the tribunal) had erred on a number of points relating to claims brought by the employee for, among other things, harassment. The tribunal had dismissed the employee's claim for harassment, as the employee did not personally share the protected characteristics referred to. The EAT held that that was not necessary for a claim of harassment to succeed. The EAT further held, in dismissing the employer's cross-appeal, that knowledge of the employee's disability was not a pre-requisite for the employee bringing a claim of disability discrimination. The case was remitted to the tribunal for reconsideration on the harassment point. 

Extradition – Extradition order. The Administrative Court dismissed the appellant's appeal against orders for his extradition to Latvia to serve a mandatory custodial sentence of five years for driving without a licence and whilst under the influence of narcotic substances, and two counts of possession of methylampetamine. Mandatory sentences were not, of themselves, disproportionate and the balance struck by the judge with respect to art 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights had not been wrong.