Latest Cases

Company – Director. The claimant Secretary of State issued proceedings, relying on certain transactions as demonstrating that the defendant's conduct as a director of a company made him unfit to be concerned in the management of a company, within s 6 of the Company Directors Disqualification Act 1986. The Chancery Division held that, due to the defendant's untrue representations, he was unfit to be concerned in the management of a company and would be disqualified for a period of seven years. 

Marriage – Foreign marriage. The Court of Appeal, Civil Division, allowed a wife's appeal against a declaration that her marriage by way of Nikah in Pakistan had been valid. On the new evidence presented, the decree absolute that had purported to end her previous marriage had been void as issued less than six weeks after the decree nisi. In any event, the amended date of decree absolute meant that the marriage had not been dissolved for the three month period required by Sharia law before a woman could re-marry. The matter would be remitted to consider whether the fact that her previous marriage had been a nullity due to the husband's bigamy had any impact upon the validity of the parties' marriage. 

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. 

Injunction – Interim injunction. The claimant was the freehold owner of a piece of empty land (the adjoining plot) immediately adjacent to a property in Holland Park, which was owned by the defendant management company. The defendant sought an interim injunction to prevent the claimant from applying for planning permission to build a house which she proposed to build on the adjoining plot. The Chancery Division, refusing the application, held that that difference in the risk of unquantifiable damage pointed firmly in favour of not granting the injunction, in particular, having regard to various undertakings which the claimant had offered. 

Practice – Summary judgment. In the course of proceedings concerning the purchase of shares in a gaming company, the claimant company applied for summary judgment. The Commercial Court held that the claimant was entitled to a declaration reflecting that the first defendant company had no realistic prospect of defending the costs and expenses elements of litigation in Italy. 

Contract – Construction. The claimant sought declarations as to the entitlement of the defendant to terminate a licence agreement. The Technology and Construction Court held that on a true construction of the licence agreement, BAE was entitled to terminate the licence agreement for convenience on notice under the provisions the enabling agreement which governed the licence agreement.t 

Income tax – Additional assessment. The Upper Tribunal (Tax and Chancery Chamber) (the tribunal) dismissed the taxpayer director's appeal against six assessments issued against him pursuant to s 29 of the Taxes Management Act 1970 for the years 2003/04 to 2008/09. The tribunal decided that, contrary to the argument put forward by the taxpayer, there had been a discovery by the relevant officer for the purposes of s 29 of the Act. Accordingly, the appeal in regard to all six years was allowed to proceed to a substantive hearing. 

Medical practitioner – Professional conduct committee. The Fitness to Practise Panel (the panel) of the respondent General Medical Council found that the appellant doctor's fitness to practise was impaired and imposed a sanction of erasure from the medical register. The appellant appealed on the ground that the sanction was disproportionate. The Administrative Court, in dismissing the appeal, held that the panel's determination was unimpeachable. It had come to a conclusion that it had been entitled to on the evidence before it and had provided adequate reasoning for the task which it had had to discharge. 

Insurance – Repudiation of claim. The appellant company issued proceedings, seeking payment under its insurance policy with the respondent company. The judge found that the appellant had not made a fraudulent claim, but the Court of Appeal of Trinidad and Tobago overturned that decision and the appellant appealed. The Privy Council, in allowing the appeal, held that the Court of Appeal had had no proper basis for concluding that the trial judge had gone plainly wrong in his assessment of the evidence. Accordingly, it had erred in substituting its views on the critical question. 

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.