Latest Cases

Practice – Pre-trial or post-judgment relief. The Queen's Bench Division dismissed an application by the claimants to admit expert evidence estimation of their potential career earnings in the construction industry. Having considered CPR PD 35 and its guidance on instructing experts the court accepted the defendants' submissions that the methodology proposed was merely research and further that it could not be said that what was proposed would assist the court in determining the matters which were in issue. 

Police – Disclosure of information. The Divisional Court allowed the claimants' judicial review proceedings, seeking declarations that the statutory scheme for disclosure of convictions was inconsistent with art 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights. The present statutory scheme could give rise to some very startling consequences and such results were properly to be described as 'arbitrary'. 

Practice – Extension of time. The Queen's Bench division refused the respondent's application for an extension of time to file a respondent's notice. Among other things, it was clear that, having been granted permission to appeal, the appellant had repeatedly sought to engage with the respondent, and the respondent had repeatedly failed to do so until it had been too late. Equally, whilst there was no question of the respondent seeking to challenge the judge's findings of fact in any way, the consequences of granting the application would not be minimal. 

Town and country planning – Planning authority. The Planning Court dismissed the claimant's applications for judicial review of the defendant local planning authority's decisions to hold a referendum on a draft neighbourhood plan. It had been appropriate for the plan to be made without allocating any further housing land and adequate reasons had been given. The relevant matters had been considered and the scoring system used to select sites for allocation in the plan had not been legally flawed. 

European Union – Rules on competition. The Court of Justice of the European Union gave a preliminary ruling, deciding, among other things, that that European Union law, in particular art 101 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union and Regulation (EC) No 1/2003, should be interpreted as meaning that the instruments adopted in the context of the European Competition Network (ECN), in particular the ECN Model Leniency Programme, were not binding on national competition authorities. 

Prison – Prison conditions. The Administrative Court dismissed the claimant's application for judicial review of the defendant Parole Board's decision not to recommend his move to an open prison. Despite the fact that facilities necessary for enabling the claimant to carry out the required additional work had not been provided, there had not been any irrationality or other error of law in the Parole Board's decision. 

European Union – Trade Marks. The General Court of the European Union dismissed the action brought by Laboratorios Ern SA (Laboratorios) against the decision of the Fourth Board of Appeal of the Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market (Trade Marks and Designs) concerning opposition proceedings between Laboratorios and michelle menard GmbH — Berlin cosmetics regarding the application by the latter company for registration of word mark 'Lenah. C' as a Community trade mark. 

Passing off – Get-up of goods. The Chancery Division dismissed the claimant's claim for passing off in respect its clinical wet wipes for use in the healthcare industry where, applying settled law to the facts, the claimant had failed to establish its case. There was no risk of deception amongst a sufficiently substantial number of the claimant's customers or potential customers for there to be a real effect on its goodwill. Further, the defendant's products did not amount to instruments of deception. 

Criminal law – Manslaughter. The Court of Appeal, Criminal Division, held that an 11 year extended sentence, comprising a custodial term of 6 years and a licence period of 5 years, for a conviction of manslaughter, had been unduly lenient. The sentence would be quashed and substituted for an extended sentence of 17 years, comprising a custodial term of 12 years and a licence period of 5 years. 

Insurance – Transfer of long-term insurance business. The Companies Court approved a insurance business transfer scheme for the transfer by Rothesay Assurance Ltd (RAL) of the whole of its long-term insurance business to another company in the same group, Rothesay Life Ltd (Rothesay Life). It held that, on the evidence, the capital position of Rothesay Life would remain strong after the transfer. There was no realistic prospect of risks to the position of the transferring RAL policyholders.