Latest Cases

European Union – Reference to European Court. The Court of Justice of the European Union held, on a preliminary ruling, that Council Directive (EEC) 91/477 (on the control of the acquisition and possession of weapons), as amended by Council and European Parliament Directive (EC) 2008/51, should be interpreted as not precluding national legislation, such as that which was at issue in the main proceedings, which authorised the issue of a European firearms pass only to holders of weapons used for hunting and target shooting purposes. 

Costs – Assessment. The Technology and Construction Court held that the appropriate order was that the claimant should pay the defendant its costs, to be assessed on a standard basis, if not agreed, without any reduction for a failure on the part of the defendant to mediate. 

Administration of estates – Payment. Following the death of W, a locum doctor, the appellant NHS authority submitted that money had been overpaid to W's executors and needed to be returned. The deputy pensions ombudsman held that repayment was not necessary. The authority appealed. The Chancery Division held that, while the ombudsman had acted within her powers, there were no grounds for limiting the authority's entitlement to repayment to the net assets of the estate, and her decision to that effect would be set aside. 

Landlord and tenant – Assignment of lease. The Chancery Division considered the construction of assignment provisions in leases entered into by companies in the Hilton Group of companies and the effect of the Landlord and Tenants (Covenants) Act 1995. The court held that the claimants were entitled to the declaratory relief sought. 

Human rights – Right to life. The claimant issued judicial review proceedings, contending that the United Kingdom had an obligation, under art 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights, to investigate the death of her son, a British soldier murdered by an armed mob when visiting a police station in Iraq in June 2003. The Divisional Court, in dismissing the application held that art 2 of the Convention did not give a member of the armed forces a civil right to be protected by the state against errors, including negligent errors, in the military chain of command in carrying out an order relating to the conduct of operations in theatre where such an error created or increased the risk of loss of life. Accordingly, there was no duty under art 2 of the Convention to hold an investigation. 

Town and country planning – Planning authority. The claimant national house building companies challenged the executive committee of the first defendant local authority's decision that a draft neighbourhood plan should be put to a referendum. The Administrative Court, in dismissing the application, held that the authority had properly conducted a sustainability assessment, had met the relevant basic conditions and had set out its reasons for adopting a policy enabling managed housing growth. Further, the authority's examiner had not been biased. 

Employment tribunal – Procedure. In dismissing an employee's appeal, the Court of Appeal, Civil Division, confirmed that the practice of employment tribunals to consult between themselves after the hearing and for the decision to be written by the employment judge alone, without a draft being provided to the lay members, if properly followed, was a legitimate procedure which satisfied the requirement that the decision and reasons should record the conclusions of all members of the tribunal. 

Practice – Pre-trial or Post-judgment relief. A dispute arose between the parties to a joint venture for the acquisition of a collection of hotels and resorts and their business, concerning the removal of the founder of a hotel chain and the chief executive officer of a company incorporated for the purpose of the joint venture (the JVC). The Chancery Division granted the claimant an injunction to, among other things, restrain the JVC from taking steps to remove and/or exclude Z from his position of CEO of the JVC until 31 July 2014. 

Immigration – Leave to remain. Court of Session: Refusing a reclaiming motion in judicial review proceedings in which the petitioner, who was granted discretionary leave to remain in the UK for three years only challenged that decision and sought declarator that he was entitled to indefinite leave to remain, the court rejected the petitioner's central claim that he had a legitimate expectation, based on Parliamentary and other statements, that his application to remain in the UK would be decided by July 2011 as part of the 'legacy' programme and would be dealt with in accordance with the law and practice then in force. 

The proceedings concerned a tendering process carried out by the respondent Common Services Agency in 2010 in respect of the provision of medical services to health authorities in Scotland. The appellant submitted that, among other things, the court below had erred in treating the reasonably well-informed and diligent tenderer (the RWIND tenderer) as a hypothetical construct, and in applying the RWIND tenderer standard according to the court's assessment of what a hypothetical RWIND tenderer would have done or thought. The Supreme Court, in dismissing the claim, held that the question could not be determined by evidence, as it depended on the application of a legal test rather than being a purely empirical enquiry.