Latest Cases

European Union – Rules on competition. The General Court of the European Union dismissed the application by Corporación Empresarial de Materiales de Construcción, SA (Corporacion) for annulment of art 1(2) and art 2 of Commission Decision C(2012) 1965 final relating to proceedings under art 101 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union and art 53 of the European Economic Area Agreement. The General Court decided that the European Commission had not infringed art 25(1)(b) of Council Regulation (EC) No 1/2003 on the basis that the fine it had imposed on Corporacion had been adopted within the five-year limitation period provided for in art 25(1)(b) of that regulation. 

Negligence – Causation. The Queen's Bench Division dismissed the claimant's claim on behalf of the estate of her deceased husband against the defendant General Practitioner who had examined the husband and discovered that he had blood pressure in the high range. The court held that, on the evidence, it was satisfied that the defendant had told the husband that his blood pressure was raised and that he should visit his regular GP to get it checked out. 

Mental health – Court of Protection. The Court of Protection refused to make an authorisation in regard to deprivation of liberty in relation to the accommodation of the patient provided by the local authority as part of a care package. 

Prison – Prisoner. The appellant had been convicted of a notorious racially-aggravated abduction and murder of a 15 year old boy. He had spent 56 months in solitary confinement in prison in Scotland. The Supreme Court, reversing the decision of the Extra Division of the Inner House, ruled that the appellant had been segregated without lawful authority between certain periods of his detention and that the circumstances of the segregation had violated his rights under art 8 the European Convention on Human Rights. 

Family proceedings – Orders in family proceedings. A local authority had applied for care and placement orders in respect of three of six children. It sought care orders in respect of the others. The judge refused the application, relying heavily on the impact of adoption on the relationship between the siblings. The Court of Appeal, Civil Division, dismissed the authority's appeal as the judge had had the correct factors in mind and because the court had to consider the relevant child's relationships with all of his relatives and the wishes and feelings of those relatives, which included siblings. 

Practice – Pre-trial or post-judgment relief. The Queen's Bench Division having regard to the competing rights in arts 8 and 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights granted a without notice interim non-disclosure order in respect of explicit material being threatened to be put into the public domain following the break up of a relationship of a well know actor. 

Criminal law – Company. The defendant civil engineering design company appealed against its conviction for two health and safety offences. The Court of Appeal, Criminal Division, in dismissing the appeal, held that the judge had correctly determined that the issue as to whether there had been a material risk had been a matter for the jury and that there had been ample evidence of material risk. 

Parent and child – International child abduction. Court of Session: Refusing a father's petition for an order for the return to Australia of his two daughters, aged six and eight, who had been wrongfully removed to Scotland by their mother, the court held that the father had acquiesced in the wrongful removal of the children, that evidence of what occurred during mediation held in Scotland was admissible, and that it would not be appropriate to return the children from Scotland to Australia. 

Town and country planning – Planning permission – Wind turbines. Court of Session: Refusing a reclaiming motion by an appellant who had appealed against a decision by a Local Review Body (LRB) of a local authority to grant planning permission for the erection of two wind turbines near her home, the court held that the Lord Ordinary had not fallen into any error of law in refusing the appeal, and the LRB's decision letter said enough in its own terms and by reference to other material to satisfy the court that the LRB's decision was within the powers of Town and Country Planning (Scotland) Act 1997 and that it complied with the relevant statutory requirements. 

Family proceedings – Orders in family proceedings. The Family Division, despite the strong religious objections of the parents of two twin boys on a life support machine, allowed the NHS Trust's application for a declaration that it would be lawful and in the best interests of each child to withdraw or discontinue the ventilation, despite the lack of parental consent would be allowed.