Latest Cases

Action of multiplepoinding – Competing proprietorial claims to library. Sheriff Court: In an action of multiplepoinding in which the pursuer, a volunteer librarian, and the second defender, an unincorporated political association, advanced competing claims to ownership of a library, the court rejected the pursuer's claim to ownership based on the library's alleged abandonment by its former owner, an alleged voluntary transfer of ownership to her and the contention that she could rely on the doctrine of reputed ownership, and it also concluded that the second defender had failed to establish ownership, that the evidence led did not allow it to reach a definitive conclusion on the identity of the rightful owner, and that while the pursuer had failed to prove ownership, she had established a lesser right as depositary to exercise sole care, control and custody of the library. 

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a local authority, who applied for and was offered a job by another local authority—an offer that was subsequently withdrawn— that a reference the defenders gave to the other authority was not true, fair and accurate, the court held that the defenders were not in breach of their duty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. 

Reparation – Delict – Wrongful interdict – Causation – Damages. Court of Session: In an action in which the only issue remaining was whether the pursuers' wrongful obtaining of interim interdict against the first defender caused him any loss, and if so the quantum thereof, the court held that the first defender had established a causal link between the losses established and the wrong, there was loss injury and damage under each of the heads of damages claimed (stress and anxiety, inconvenience and damage to reputation) and an appropriate award would be £8,000 

Landlord and tenant – Commercial lease – Tenant's repairing obligations. Court of Session: Allowing a reclaiming motion in an action by landlords against the former tenants of a commercial building in which the landlords averred that at termination of the lease the subjects were not in good and substantial repair, the court held that the Lord Ordinary had erred in concluding both that the claim, so far as based on an obligation at termination to put the premises into a condition better than they were in at commencement, was not relevantly stated, and that the relevant clause of the lease did not preclude the defender from offering to prove that the claim should be quantified by reference to diminution in capital value rather than the cost of repair. 

Contempt of Court – Sentence. The Commercial Court imposed a sentence of 18 months' imprisonment on a defendant who had been found guilty of contempt of court for failing to comply with disclosure provisions in a freezing order. 

European Union – Jurisdiction. The Court of Justice of the European Union gave a preliminary ruling, deciding that the first paragraph of art 22(1) of Regulation (EC) No 44/2001 should be interpreted as meaning that an action for the termination of co-ownership in undivided shares of immovable property by way of sale, by an appointed agent, fell within the category of proceedings 'which have as their object rights in rem in immovable property' within the meaning of that provision. 

Bankruptcy – Petition. The Bankruptcy Court granted a debtor's application for a second adjournment to the hearing of a petition for him to be adjudged bankrupt where an immediate bankruptcy order would not, on the balance of probabilities, benefit the general unsecured creditors at the present point in time, and in circumstances where a liquidation plan in Spanish proceedings could result in the debtor being able to meet all creditor claims and where it was held that the petitioners had had an ulterior object in pursuing the petition. 

European Union – Customs and excise. In the course of proceedings between the taxpayer company and Greece concerning the refusal by the Director of the Athens Customs Office to refund the taxpayer the registration taxes paid by it following the import of passenger vehicles into Greek territory, the Court of Justice of the European Union gave a preliminary ruling, deciding, among other things, that art 1(3) of Directive (EC) 2008/118 should be interpreted as fulfilling the conditions for producing direct effect allowing individuals to rely on it before a national court in a dispute between them and a member state. 

European Union – Customs and excise. The Court of Justice of the European Union made a preliminary ruling concerning the interpretation of arts 34, 36 and 110 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union and arts 1(1), 7 and 15 of European Parliament and Council Directive (EC) 94/62. The request has been made in proceedings between Mr Visnapuu, acting on behalf of European Investment Group Oü, and the District Public Prosecutor concerning the distance selling and delivery of alcoholic beverages to Finnish consumers in breach of Finnish legislation relating, inter alia, to the excise duty on certain beverage packaging and the retail sale of alcoholic beverages.