Latest Cases

European Union – Public procurement. The Court of Justice of the European Union dismissed the action brought by Elitaliana SpA (Elitaliana) seeking to set aside of the order of the General Court of the European Union, by which the General Court had dismissed its action for: (i) the annulment of measures adopted by the Rule of Law Mission in Kosovo (the Mission), established on the basis of Council Joint Action 2008/124/CFSP in the context of the award to another tenderer of the public contract entitled 'EuropeAid/131516/D/SER/XK — Helicopter Support to the Eulex Mission in Kosovo'; and (ii) an order that the Mission should pay compensation for the loss sustained as a result of the failure to award that contract to Elitaliana. 

Contempt of court – Committal. The Queen's Bench Division held that the claimant was not entitled to compensation under art 5 of the European Convention on Human Rights despite the decision of the Court of Appeal Civil Division that the trial judge's decision to committ and sentence to prison for contempt of court had been wrong. 

Employment – Dismissal. The Privy Council allowed the appellant's appeal against an order of the Supreme Court of Mauritius, by which the appellant was ordered to pay to the respondent a sum in the form of wages in lieu of notice and a severance allowance at the normal rate. Taken together, the factors which had informed the degree of blameworthiness of the respondent's misconduct rendered the breach of his duty of non-competition so fundamental that, even when placed in the context of his long unblemished record, it could not reasonably be regarded as other than 'faute grave'. 

Criminal evidence – Sexual offence. The Court of Appeal, Criminal Division, in allowing the defendant's appeal against his conviction for rape, held that the judge had failed to properly consider admitting evidence that he had had consensual sexual intercourse with the complainant on a previous occasion and text messages from a third party should have been excluded from evidence under the general discretion conferred by s 78 of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984. 

Sentence – Imprisonment. The Court of Appeal, Criminal Division, held that, while a judge had been entitled to depart from the mandatory five year minimum sentence for a firearm offence, a suspended sentence of two years' imprisonment, following the offender's guilty plea to an offence of possession of a prohibited firearm, contrary to s 5(1)(aba) of the Firearms Act 1968, had been unduly lenient. However, the sentence was not altered because the fact that the offender was entitled to credit for time spent on a previous qualifying curfew would make it wrong to interfere. 

Prison – Prisoner. The Administrative Court dismissed the claimant's judicial review proceedings, alleging that his continued detention, despite a Parole Board direction for his conditional release, was a result of a breach by the defendants of statutory and other public law duties. The delay was not in breach of the defendants' statutory duties or discriminatory. 

Practice – Stay. The Chancery Division dismissed the defendant's application either for the court to stay the action formally, pending the result of the Georgian Court of Appeal's decision, or to informally refrain from giving judgment. It was not appropriate, given the history of the case, that the present court should await whatever decision came out of the Georgian courts, and it would proceed to deliver the judgment as soon as possible. 

Costs – Interim costs. The Queen's Bench Division made an interim costs order for the claimant following the settling of a personal injury action and in so doing took into account an After the Event insurance premium. 

Minor – Abduction. The Family Division made a child arrangements order for contact between a father and child in circumstances where the father had withdrawn his application for the child's return to Spain under the 1980 Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction following the mother's attempted suicide caused by her acute anxiety and distress which were directly related to her fears that she and/or the child would be ordered to return to Spain. 

Child – Care. The Court of Appeal, Civil Division, dismissed an appeal by the claimant in respect of her claim against the defendant local authority regarding the physical and sexual abuse she had suffered while in foster care provided by the authority during the period 1985 to 1988. The court held that, in such circumstances, the authority was not vicariously liable for the assaults nor had it been under a non-delegable duty of care to have protected her from harm.