Latest Cases

Employment – Discrimination. The Employment Appeal Tribunal, in allowing the employer, Ford Motor Company Ltd's appeal, held that an employment judge who had ruled at a preliminary hearing that the employment tribunal had jurisdiction, under the Equality Act 2010, to hear age discrimination claims by pensioners, had erred in failing to consider whether the claims fell within both limits of the Act and in applying the Act. 

Arbitration – Award. The Commercial Court held that tortious claims, which alleged that the defendants had been involved in the redistribution of a company's ownership through a combination of legal and illegal means, fell within arbitration clauses in the relevant agreements and the second defendant had been properly joined to the proceedings. The claims were remitted to the arbitrators, pursuant to s 67 of the Arbitration Act 1996. 

European Commission – Rules on competition. The General Court of the European Union allowed the application by Air Canada for annulment of Commission Decision C(2010) 7694 final (the contested decision) in which the European Commission had found that Air Canada and other carriers had participated in a single and continuous infringement of EU competition law by co-ordinating its behaviour as regards the pricing of freight services. The General Court decided that the contested decision was vitiated by a defective statement of reasons which justified its annulment. 

European Commission – Rules on competition. The General Court of the European Union allowed the application by Koninklijke Luchtvaart Maatschappij NV for annulment of Commission Decision C(2010) 7694 final (the contested decision) in which the European Commission had found that Air Canada and other carriers had participated in a single and continuous infringement of EU competition law by co-ordinating its behaviour as regards the pricing of freight services. The General Court decided that the contested decision was vitiated by a defective statement of reasons which justified its annulment. 

Sentence – Appeal. The Court of Appeal, Criminal Division, held that a nine-year-and-four-month extended sentence, for the offence of rape, comprising a custodial term of five-years-and-four-months, plus an extended licence period of four years was unduly lenient in the circumstances. The sentence would be quashed and substituted for a 12-year extended sentence, comprising of a custodial term of 7-and-a-half years, plus an extended licence period of 4-and-a-half years. 

Town and country planning – Wind farm. The Supreme Court dismissed the appellants' appeal against the refusal of the Scottish courts to quash consent given under s 36 of the Electricity Act 1989 by the Scottish Ministers to Aberdeen Offshore Wind Farm Ltd for the construction and operation of wind turbines in Aberdeenshire in respect of the transmission of electricity. 

Solicitor – Negligence. The Chancery Division dismissed the claimant company's negligence case against the defendant solicitors. The court held that the defendant had adequately warned the claimant about a restriction on a property in which the claimant had sought to obtain an interest. In any event, the claimant had not established that it would have acted differently if different advice had been given. 

Medical practitioner – Negligence. The Court of Appeal, Civil Division, dismissed the defendant NHS trust's appeal regarding a clinical negligence action, in which the judge had found in favour of the claimant. It held that the judge's conclusion, that a clinical note recording a ward round had been inaccurate, had been entirely open to him on the basis of the evidence and well within the ambit of reasonable decision-making. 

European Union – Trade marks. The General Court of the European Union dismissed the action brought by Hikari Miso Ltd (Hikari) against the decision of the Fourth Board of Appeal of the Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market (Trade Marks and Designs) relating to opposition proceedings between Nishimoto Trading Co. Ltd and Hikari concerning the application by the latter company for registration of the word mark 'Hikari' as a Community trade mark. 

Criminal law – Assault. The Administrative Court dismissed the claimant's challenge to a simple caution administered on her by the defendant Metropolitan Police Commissioner for an alleged offence of assault occasioning actual bodily harm. The Commissioner had not breached para 76 of the Ministry of Justice guidance 'Simple Cautions for Adult Offenders' by having stated that the alleged victim had had a broken nose, when it had only been suspected that her nose had been broken.