Latest Cases

Public procurement – Public contracts. The Administrative Court dismissed the claimant local authority's challenge to the defendant Secretary of State's decision to issue an invitation to tender for the East Anglia Franchise which contained a train service requirement without a minimum requirement that the bidder had to initially provide a service of two, and then four, trains per hour for a station. 

Set-off – Right of set-off. The Court of Appeal, Civil Division, in dismissing the appellant's appeal against the grant of summary judgment on the defendants' counterclaim, held that it would not be inequitable for the defendants to rely on set-off in respect of a rebate and they were not estopped from doing so. Further, they had produced debit notes, despite the fact that the judge had not had physical copies. 

Family proceedings – Orders in family proceedings. The Court of Appeal, Civil Division, ruled on an appeal against the refusal of permission to a mother of two boys, then aged 16 and 14, to take them from London to live in New York. To the extent that the appeal was allowed in the case of the eldest son and, to a limited extent, the younger son, it was on a basis not argued below, namely, in consequence of the 'no order' principle the court should not have been making or continuing orders about young persons over 16, other than in exceptional circumstances. 

Criminal evidence – Disclosure. The Court of Appeal, Criminal Division, in a case likely to encompass allegations of very substantial fraud, lifted the statutory reporting restrictions, in part, to enable publication of extracts of the judgment, in order to give guidance on the proper approach to disclosure and abuse of process. In particular, it considered how the prosecution was to comply with its initial disclosure obligation, under s 3 of the Criminal Procedure and Investigations Act 1996, if it had not read, and could not be expected to read, all the material it had seized. 

Employment – Wrongful dismissal. The Queen's Bench Division held that as the claimant had, on the facts, committed repeated breaches of his contract of employment in disclosing confidential information and therefore, the defendant football club employer had been entitled to dismiss him for gross misconduct. 

Indemnity – Construction of indemnity clause. The Court of Appeal, Civil Division, held that the obtaining and receiving of advice after a mistake had been made, even if the mistake could be easily rectified, could not mean that an obligation to correct one's mistake or negligence continued to accrue and give a fresh cause of action every day after the mistake had been made. 

Town and country planning – Development. The Queen's Bench Division refused the claimant local planning authority the grant of an injunction under s 187B of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990, as in all the circumstances of the case, the grant of injunctive relief under any of the headings put forward by the claimant was not proportionate. 

Mortgage – Sale. The Court of Appeal, Civil Division, held that, where a mortgagee sold the mortgaged property, the mortgagee's duty to act in good faith and for proper purposes, and to take reasonable care to obtain a proper price, arose in equity and was owed only to those with a recognised interest in the equity of redemption of the mortgaged property. A mortgagee of seven aircraft, in carrying out a sale of six of the aircraft, owed no such duty to the ultimate recipient of the balance of the proceeds of sale of three other aircraft the equity of which had been cross-collateralised against the debt in respect of the seven mortgaged aircraft, where the ultimate recipient had no recognised interest in the equity of redemption in the seven aircraft. 

Employment – Employer – Duty of care – Reference. Sheriff Court: Rejecting a claim by a social worker employed by the defenders, a local authority, who applied for and was offered a job by another local authority—an offer that was subsequently withdrawn— that a reference the defenders gave to the other authority was not true, fair and accurate, the court held that the defenders were not in breach of their duty of care to the pursuer in giving the reference as it was legitimate for them to inform the new employer of their outstanding disciplinary investigation concerning the pursuer, and it was the fact of a Scottish Social Services Council investigation concerning her and not the terms of the reference that caused the loss of her new job. 

Employment and labour law – Part-time workers – Discrimination – Less favourable treatment. Court of Session: Allowing an appeal by the Advocate General, the court dismissed a claim by a former part-time clerk to the General Commissioners of Income Tax, who was not granted a pension on retiral and contended that, contrary to his part-time worker's rights, he received less favourable treatment than another former clerk who was granted a pension, holding that on a proper interpretation of s 3(3) of the Taxes Management Act 1970 the respondent was not entitled to pass the threshold in stage one of a Ministry of Justice policy regarding determination of the pension for a clerk to the General Commissioners, and he was not entitled to rely on the other clerk as a 'comparable full-time worker' for the purposes of the Part-time Workers (Prevention of Less Favourable Treatment) Regulations 2000.