Latest Cases

Town and country planning – Enforcement notice. The second defendant local authority issued an enforcement notice over all of the claimants' land. The inspector for the first defendant Secretary of State dismissed their appeal and the claimants appealed. The Administrative Court, in dismissing the appeal, held that planning permission had been lost, as the claimants had created two new planning units, which had materially changed the use from the planning permission. Further, the claimants could not rely on s 57(4) of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990, as the enforcement notice had covered areas that had not been the subject of the planning permission. 

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. 

Police – Discipline. The claimant police officers issued judicial review proceedings, challenging the refusal of their appeals against the continued imposition of the service confidence procedure (SCP) against them. The Administrative Court, in dismissing the application, held that the decisions had sufficient public law element. However, the circumstances which led to a decision to invoke the SCP required that the court not intervene in the absence of very exceptional circumstances and that threshold had not been met. There was no patent and unanswerable illogicality/irrationality/unfairness in the defendant's decisions. 

Employment – Disability. The employee had succeeded before the employment tribunal in his claim for disability discrimination relating to his medical condition. The Employment Appeal Tribunal, in dismissing the employer's appeal, found no error in law in the tribunal's finding that the employee's severe disfigurement or physical impairment had a substantial adverse effect on the employee's ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities, thereby amounting to a disability for the purposes of the Equality Act 2010. 

Mental health – Court of Protection. P was an elderly patient in under the care of the relevant NHS Trust. She was described by a number of the medical professionals as being 'very frail', had no eye contact, appeared unconscious, and was unable to communicate or respond to any requests or commands. The Trust sought declarations pursuant to s 15(1)(c) of the Mental Capacity Act 2005, that it was lawful and in P's best interests to continue to receive artificial hydration via subcutaneous injection and that the treating clinicians were to be permitted not to provide artificial nutrition by a percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy tube or via an alternative artificial feeding regime and not to resuscitate her in the event of either a cardiac or respiratory arrest. The Court of Protection granted the declarations as being in P's best interests. 

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. 

Family proceedings – Orders in family proceedings. Following the murder of the mother by the father, the local authority sought care and placement orders for the three children of the family. The maternal grandmother and the other members of the family opposed the making of such orders. The local authority made the orders sought applying the criteria of the welfare of each individual child being considered paramount.t 

Pleading – Amendment. The defendant company sought to amend its CPR Pt 20 breach of contract claim against the third party company to include a negligence claim. The Queen's Bench Division, in allowing the application, held that, although the claim was statute-barred, the new claim framed in negligence arose out of the substantially the same facts. The factors against the exercise of discretion to amend were outweighed and the defendant would be permitted to amend, pursuant to CPR 17.4(2). 

Human Rights – Infringement of human rights. The present proceedings concerned the assessment of damages for the defendant Metropolitan Police Commissioner's breach of the Human Rights Act 1998, by failing to conduct an effective investigation into the rapes and other sexual assaults carried out by a third party. The Queen's Bench Division, taking into account the claimants' settlement of proceedings against the third party and damages awarded by the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority, awarded the first claimant £22,250 and the second claimant £19,000. 

Education – Higher education. The claimant, who had discretionary leave to remain in the United Kingdom, was ineligible for a student loan as a result of her immigration status. The Court of Appeal, Civil Division, in allowing the defendant Secretary of State's appeal, found that the defendant Secretary of State had adopted a lawful bright line rule in formulating the 'basic category' of eligible students given in para 2 of pt 2 of Sch 1 to the Education (Student Support) Regulations 2011.