Latest Cases

Family proceedings – Orders in family proceedings. The Family Division refused to exercise its discretion in relation to an application by the husband to set aside an order for payment of child maintenance based on the service provisions in that order. Over two years had elapsed before the husband had taken the point on service, although he had taken many other meritless points about the validity of the order all of which had been dismissed. 

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. 

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. 

European Union – Rules on competition. The Court of Justice of the European Union dismissed the appeal by Toshiba Corporation (Toshiba), asking the Court to set aside the judgment of the General Court of the European Union of 21 May 2014 in Toshiba v Commission (T‑519/09, whereby the General Court had dismissed Toshiba's action for annulment of Decision C(2009) 7601 final of the European Commission of 7 October 2009 relating to a proceeding under art 81 EC in respect of Toshiba's participation in an unlawful cartel in relation to the market for power transformers. 

Child – Care. The Family Court held that the only way in which the future of a 12-year-old boy could be safeguarded was by making him a ward of court. He could not be made a ward whilst he was subject to an interim care order and so that order would be discharged. For the same reasons, it was contrary to his welfare to allow care proceedings to continue and, accordingly, the local authority was given permission to withdraw its application for a care order. 

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. 

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. 

Consumer law – Defective products – Negligence – Duty of care. Court of Session: Sustaining the defenders' plea to the relevancy and granting decree of dismissal in an action in which the pursuers, whose clubhouse was extensively damaged when an electric golf trolley which was left overnight in a locker room caught fire sought reparation from the importers and suppliers of the trolley, the court held that 

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. 

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.