Latest Cases

Medical negligence – Childbirth – Application to amend. Court of Session: In an action for damages in respect of hypoxic brain injury suffered at birth in which it was alleged that the oxygen supply to the pursuer's brain in utero was impaired because her mother's womb ruptured because her labour was negligently mismanaged, and in which, following proof, the pursuer enrolled a motion seeking to allow a minute of amendment proposing a new risk disclosure case to be received, the court refused the pursuer's motion, holding that an adequate explanation had not been offered for bringing the risk disclosure case so late, and it was not reasonable, equitable and in the interests of justice to allow the new case to be added. 

European Union – Freedom of establishment. The Court of Justice of the European Union gave a preliminary ruling deciding, among other things, that art 49 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union should be interpreted as not precluding a member state's tax regime, such as that at issue in the main proceedings, under which, in the event of transfer by a resident company to a non-resident company within the same group of a permanent establishment situated in another member state, the losses previously deducted in respect of the establishment transferred were reincorporated into the taxable profit of the transferring company where, under a double taxation convention, the income of such a permanent establishment was exempt from tax in the member state in which the company to which that establishment belonged had its seat. 

Prisoner – Prison conditions – Exposure to environmental tobacco smoke (ETS). Court of Session: Refusing a judicial review petition in which the petitioner, a prisoner serving a life sentence in HMP Shotts, sought a declarator that it was unreasonable and therefore unlawful for the respondents to detain him in conditions in which he was exposed to ETS, the court held that the exercise of the respondents' power to detain the petitioner in the circumstances in which he currently found himself was not unreasonable and therefore unlawful, nor was it being implemented on a basis which could be said to be otherwise irrational: rather it fell within the range of reasonable responses to the prevailing situation. 

Value added tax – Exemptions. The Court of Appeal, Civil Division, dismissed the appellant taxpayer's appeal against the decision of the Upper Tribunal (Tax and Chancery Chamber) upholding the decision of the First-tier Tribunal (Tax Chamber) that it was not an 'eligible body' for the purposes of Note (1)(b) of Group 6 in Sch 9 to the Value Added Tax Act 1994. Even though it was supplying educational services, the taxpayer failed to meet the European Union law-compliant supplier condition for the education exemption. 

Constitutional law – Foreign sovereign state. The Queen's Bench Division ordered that a Nigerian judgment, which awarded the claimants special damages for the equivalent of approximately £400m, be registered against the third defendant as a judgment in the Queen's Bench Division. However, the court dismissed the claimants' application to register the judgment against the first and second defendants, the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the Attorney General of the Federation respectively, where, on the true construction of the State Immunity Act 1978, the first and second defendants were immune from the jurisdiction of the court. 

Costs – Order for costs. The Court of Appeal, Civil Division, allowed an appeal against an order as to costs made against the appellant in circumstances where he had beaten the offer to settle for '£18,500 net of [Compensation Recovery Unit]' that had been made to him by the respondent pursuant to CPR Pt 36. The offer had been a valid one under Pt 36, the recorder had been entitled to wait to assess costs until after the Compensation Recovery Unit had reviewed the appellant's certificate of recoverable benefits and, on the facts, the recorder had erred in concluding that the appellant had not beaten the offer. 

Town and country planning – Enforcement notice. The Queen's Bench Division refused the defendant's application to vary an injunction obtained by the claimant planning authority against the defendant in respect of building works erected without planning permission. The court also found that the defendant was in breach of a consent order requiring compliance with the previous enforcement notices. An appropriate sanction would be a three month suspended sentence, suspended on the condition that the defendant comply with all the enforcement notices. 

Immigration – Deportation. The Court of Appeal, Civil Division, in dismissing the Secretary of State's appeal in a deportation case, held that, although the tribunals below had been wrong to conclude that the respondent Italian national had acquired a right of permanent residence in the United Kingdom, under reg 15 of the Immigration (European Economic Area) Regulations 2006, SI 2006/1003, the error had not been material to the outcome and there was, therefore, no basis upon which to set aside the determination of the Upper Tribunal (Immigration and Asylum Chamber). 

Town and country planning – Permission for development. The Administrative Court dismissed the claimant's application for judicial review of the defendant local planning authority's grant of planning permission for an extensive development of two sites. A heritage contribution, pursuant to an agreement under s 106 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990, was lawful, the authority had given sufficient reasons and the conclusion that the authority had been unable to demonstrate a five-year supply of housing had been justified. 

Shipping – Collision. The Admiralty Court apportioned liability to four vessels following a collision at the port of Mumbai. It held that, among other things, r 9 of the Collision Regulations and Distress Signals Order 1977, SI 1977/982, still applied where a vessel was navigating around the outside of a dredged channel.