Latest Cases

European Union – Equality of treatment of men and women. The Court of Justice of the European Union gave a preliminary ruling, deciding that art 18 of Directive (EC) 2006/54 should be interpreted as meaning that, in order for the loss and damage sustained as a result of discrimination on grounds of sex to be the subject of genuine and effective compensation or reparation in a way which was dissuasive and proportionate, that article required member states which chose the financial form of compensation to introduce in their national legal systems, in accordance with detailed arrangements which they determined, measures providing for payment to the person injured of compensation which covered in full the loss and damage sustained. 

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 – 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. 

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. 

National Health Service – General medical services. The Administrative Court dismissed the claimant's application for judicial review of the defendant's decision not to conclude any form of interim contract with the claimant concerning the provision of gamma knife treatment for NHS patients at the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery pending the completion of its national procurement exercise. The defendant's reasons for having rejected the claimant's proposal had afforded a sustainable basis for not having provided an interim contract with the claimant. 

Extradition – Extradition order. The Divisional Court dismissed the appellant's appeal against orders for his extradition to Greece to serve a sentence of 22 years' imprisonment for two counts of sexual offences against a young boy. The judge had been entitled to conclude that the appellant's extradition would be compatible with his rights under the European Convention on Human Rights and, having reached that conclusion, he had been required to order extradition. 

Costs – Assessment. The Queen's Bench Division held that the master had erred in principle in his decision in relation to the costs namely whether a retrospective success fee was allowable in all the circumstances of the case before him. In that respect the master had been wrong as there was no basis for any conclusion that the risk was different in December 2012 to that which had existed in July. 

Company – Scheme of arrangement. The Chancery Division allowed an application by the joint special administrators of a company to return client assets to clients pursuant to a distribution plan. The Court decided that the application was a highly convenient method of achieving the desired objective, and worked fairly, equitably and reasonably. 

Trust and trustee – Creation of trust. The Chancery Division dismissed the claimants' application for a declaration that they, among four named trustees, held a property in equal shares. The court held that, on the evidence, the property was held in equal shares by each of the nine children of the purchaser. 

Pension – Pensions Regulator. The Administrative Court held that, in determining whether seafarers employed by the claimant fell within the territorial scope of the Pensions Act 2008, as the defendant Pensions Regulator maintained, so as to qualify for automatic enrolment into a pensions scheme, the test had to be whether the individual was working in Great Britain in the sense of working with their base in Great Britain, rather than doing work here on a temporary basis.