Latest Cases

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 – Jurisdiction. The Supreme Court in allowing the appellants appeal held, in a case of determining whether the court had jurisdiction based on habitual residence of a child, that the modern concept of a child's habitual residence operated in the expectation that when a child had a new habitual residence, he lost his old one. Only a degree of integration was required in the new state. It was highly unlikely that a child would be left in limbo without a habitual residence. 

Immigration – Detention. The Administrative Court declared that the claimant Sudanese national's immigration detention for the period between 19 September and 29 September 2014 had been unlawful. In circumstances where the claimant's detention had been approved on the basis that his judicial review proceedings would be expedited, he should have been released the day after the decision not to seek expedition. 

Criminal law – Child sex offences. The Court of Appeal, Criminal Division held that a 3-year community order, with a supervision requirement for 2 years and a rehabilitation activity requirement for 30 days, for the offence of rape of a child under 13, contrary to s 5(1) of the Sexual Offences Act 2003, had been unduly lenient. The recorder had been wrong to have deemed the case as exceptional in order to depart from the Sentencing Council's Definitive Guidelines: Sexual Offences. The sentence would be quashed and substituted for a term of 42 months' detention in custody. 

Town and country planning – Permission for development. The Queen's Bench Division dismissed the claimant's applications for judicial review of the defendant local planning authority's grant of planning permission for the construction of 12 dwellings and its approval of the discharge of five conditions of that planning permission. There had been no misinterpretation of the relevant policies of the National Planning Policy Framework, members of the defendant's committee had not been misled and there had not been any misdirection or error in the approval of the details under three conditions. 

European Union – Trade marks. The General Court of the European Union dismissed the action brought by Benelli Q.J. Srl (Benelli) against the decision of the Second Board of Appeal of the Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market (Trade Marks and Designs), relating to opposition proceedings between Benelli and Demharter GmbH, regarding the application by the latter company for registration of a figurative mark 'MOTO B' as a Community trade mark. 

Patent – Infringement. The Patents Court dismissed the claim of a telecommunications company, Unwired Planet, with regard to alleged infringement by the defendant company of two patents involving self configuring and optimisation of cell neighbours in wireless telecommunications networks. The court held that, among other things, the patents were invalid for obviousness over a related document and would be revoked. 

Land charge – General equitable charge. The Court of Appeal, Civil Division, in dismissing the appellant's appeal, held that the present was not a case in which 'tacking' arose, and the second respondent retained its priority as first chargee in respect of an advance made by it in October 2006. There had been no new or further advance in or following March 2009, nor anything which the law would deem to have been a new or further advance, nor any agreement that the second respondent should be treated as having made a new advance. 

Immigration – Detention. The Administrative Court allowed the claimant Zimbabwean national's application for judicial review of his immigration detention, as there was no realistic, foreseeable prospect of returning him to Zimbabwe. Although the claimant would be likely, if released, to abscond and to commit further offences, the defendant Secretary of State could not justify his continued detention when he had made it clear that he would not agree to his return home and the Zimbabwean authorities would only accept returning nationals if they had a passport or wished to return. 

European Union – Freedom of establishment. The Court of Justice of the European Union gave a preliminary ruling, deciding that arts 49 and 56 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union should be interpreted as precluding a restrictive national provision, such as that at issue in the main proceedings, which required a licensee to transfer, free of charge, on the cessation of business as a result of the expiry of the final term of the licence, the rights to use tangible and intangible assets which he owned and which constituted his network for the management and collection of bets, in so far as that restriction went beyond what was necessary to attain the objective actually pursued by that provision, which was for the referring court to verify.