Latest Cases

Compulsory purchase – Compulsory purchase order. The Planning Court dismissed the claimant's application for judicial review of the defendant Secretary of State's refusal of its application for costs expended in preparing to resist a compulsory purchase order and side roads order at an inquiry, which was subsequently cancelled. It held that the power to award costs, under s 250(5) of the Local Government Act 1972, did not exist where an inquiry was not convened. 

Family proceedings – Jurisdiction. The Court of Appeal, Civil Division, in dismissing a local authority's appeal against transfer of a public law family case to Hungary, answered questions regarding the jurisdiction of the English court in cases involving foreign children habitually resident in England and who had foreign parents who did not consent to their adoption, the scope of Council Regulation (EC) 2201/2003 (Brussels II Revised) as it applied to both care and placement proceedings and the requirements that had to be met before the court could request a transfer to another member state. 

Medical negligence – Childbirth – Birth injury – Liability. Court of Session: In an action by a mother seeking damages on behalf of her minor son who, it was averred, sustained a severe brachial plexus injury in the course of his birth which resulted in permanent disability, the court concluded that the pursuer's son suffered a severe brachial plexus injury to his right shoulder during the birth process as a result of the negligence of the defenders' employee, the senior midwife present at the birth, and sustained the pursuer's pleas in law to the extent of the sum agreed as quantum, namely £725,000. 

Family proceedings – Orders in family proceedings. The Family Division, on the father's application for committal to prison of the mother, held that the mother had breached certain orders made with a view to recovering the children and regulating the arrangements on their return. It was satisfied that the mother had been guilty of contempt of court. However, the execution of the warrant of committal was to be suspended so long as the mother complied with certain conditions until a specified date, after which the sentence and warrant of committal were to be discharged. 

Patent – Infringement. The Chancery Division considered the validity of two claims in a patent dispute concerning a technique to prevent the corrosion of rebars used in reinforced concrete. The court held that claim 1 of the patent, which described a method, was valid but not infringed. However, claim 12 of the patent, which described a product suitable for use in the technique, was invalid. 

European Union – Value added tax. The Court of Justice of the European Union gave a preliminary ruling, concerning the interpretation of art 168 of Council Directive (EC) 2006/112. The request had been made in proceedings between 'Sveda' UAB (Sveda) and the State Tax Inspectorate under the Ministry of Finance of Lithuania; concerning a decision refusing deduction of the input VAT paid by Sveda in the context of the creation of a Baltic mythology recreational and discovery path. 

Patent – Infringement. The Patents Court considered a patent relating to the use of anti-PD-1 antibodies in the treatment of cancer. The court rejected a number of objections to the validity of the patent, including lack of novelty, obviousness and entitlement to the first priority date. 

Practice – Striking out. The Court of Appeal, Civil Division, dismissed the claimant's appeal against strike out of his particulars of claim on the ground of abuse of process, the grant of summary judgment in favour of the defendant bank and dismissal of his claim. On the facts and the procedural history, the defendant had discharged the burden imposed upon it of demonstrating that the present was a case which had clearly engaged the established principles of abuse of process. 

Bankruptcy – Sequestration – Disposition of heritable property. Court of Session: In an action which concerned the proper construction of s 44(4)(c) of the Conveyancing (Scotland) Act 1924, in which the trustee on a debtor's sequestrated estate challenged dispositions of five heritable properties by the debtor in favour of the defender, the court held that the dispositions the pursuer challenged were voidable and fell to be reduced (with the possible exception of the disposition of a property which might qualify as the debtor's family home). 

Personal injury – Provisional damages – Tender and acceptance. Court of Session: In a personal injury action by a pursuer who had developed pleural plaques as a result of his exposure to asbestos, in which the pursuer accepted the defenders' tender of £7,000 provisional damages and enrolled a motion for decree in terms of the minute of tender and minute of acceptance, the court concluded that it should pronounce decree in terms of those minutes and make an order that the pursuer could apply for further damages if he developed either mesothelioma or bronchial carcinoma, rather than the wider order he sought reserving to him the right to apply for further award of damages if he developed 'an asbestos-related condition other than pleural plaques'.