Latest Cases

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. 

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. 

Creation of trust – Declaration of trust. The Chancery Division allowed the claimants' application to make final an interim charging order over property owned by the first defendant, whose election as the mayor of Tower Hamlets had been declared void. The court held that the Stack approach to the purchase of a domestic property would not apply when property had been brought for letting. Among other things, the proper approach when considering the property was to follow the classic resulting trust doctrine by looking at the actual contributions to the purchase price. On the evidence, the second defendant, who was R's wife, had not made out her case that she had made substantial contributions to the purchase price, and it followed that she could not establish a resulting trust. 

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. 

European Union – Jurisdiction. The Court of Justice of the European Union gave a preliminary ruling deciding, among other things, that art 14(b) of Directive (EC) 2009/103 should be interpreted as meaning that that provision did not contain any specific conflict-of-law rule intended to determine the law applicable to the action for indemnity between insurers in circumstances such as those at issue in the main proceedings. 

Practice – Summary judgment. The Chancery Division, in granting the claimants' application for summary judgment, ruled that they were entitled to specific performance of agreements for the assignment to them of patents concerning technology used for eliminating airborne pathogens. The defendants had to do as they had agreed and execute the assignment documentation and there had been no condition precedent in the agreements that the obligation to assign the patents did not arise unless and until royalties had been paid, either in whole or in part. 

Negligence – Professional person. The Queen's Bench Division held in a case of professional negligence brought by the claimant against her counsel and solicitor following a settlement in a personal injury case that the defendants had not been negligent in advising her to take the settlement. 

Income tax – Loss relief. The Court of Appeal, Civil Division, dismissed the claimant taxpayers' appeal against the dismissal of their claim for judicial review of the defendant Revenue and Customs Commissioners' (the Revenue) amendments to their tax returns, by which the Revenue declined to accept their claims for loss relief in relation to their investments in certain film partnerships. Among other things, the court rejected the taxpayers' procedural arguments to the effect that the Revenue had not been entitled to enquire into the individual taxpayers' tax returns for the years 02, pursuant to the combined effect of ss 9A and 12AC(3) of the Taxes Management Act 1970, or, as a result of such enquiries, and a subsequent partnership settlement agreement, to amend such returns pursuant to ss 50(9) and 54 of the Act. 

Family proceedings – Orders in family proceedings. The Court of Appeal, Civil Division, allowed an appeal against a care order made in respect of an adopted boy. The judge had failed adequately to analyse the evidence or explain his reasons for reaching the conclusion that he had. There had been a number of issues that could have resulted in findings of fact which, had the judge made them, could have been considered in determining whether the boy could have returned to live with his parents. 

Pension – Pension scheme. The Chancery Division allowed the claimant company's application for rectification of its pension scheme where, as the result of a mistake, a rule setting out the company's contribution rate in the part of the pension that was attributable to pensionable service had not been properly implemented. The court made a declaration so that what the relevant deed of amendment said was brought into line with what, in law, it could achieve.