Latest Cases

Family proceedings – Orders in family proceedings. The Family Division granted the husband permission to appeal from an order made in financial remedy proceedings arising out of the parties' divorce, on the ground that an event within Barder v Barder (Caluori intervening) ([1987] 2 All ER 440) (Barder) might subsequently have occurred and the conditions in Barder were or might be satisfied. 

Local authority – Statutory powers. The Queen's Bench Division awarded the claimant parents damages of £10,000 each, in circumstances where, while the initial removal of their children from their home had been lawful, and a proportionate and necessary response to the need to safeguard them from harm, the actions of the defendant local authority in retaining the children away from their parents after the expiry of a police protection order had been unlawful and, therefore, the interference with the parents' rights under art 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights had also been unlawful. 

European Union – Freedom of movement. The Court of Justice of the European Union made a preliminary ruling concerning the interpretation of art 56(1) EC. The request had been made in proceedings brought by F.E. Familienprivatstiftung Eisenstadt (Eisenstadt) against the decision of the Austrian Independent Finance Tribunal, External Section, Vienna, that had refused Eisenstadt the right to have gifts paid to beneficiaries resident in other member states taken account of in calculating a tax to which Eisenstadt had been subject in respect of the 2001 and 2002 assessment periods. 

Medical practitioner – Negligence. The defendant brought a claim for negligence, alleging that he had been rendered effectively blind as a result of negligent treatment received at the defendant NHS Trust's eye centre. The Queen's Bench Division ruled that the claim could not succeed where, notwithstanding that another expert might have taken a different course, the course adopted by defendant Trust's staff had been one which would have been taken by a responsible body of ophthalmological opinion. 

Extradition – Extradition order. The appellant appealed against orders for his extradition to Poland to face trial for an offence against the credibility of documents, allegedly committed between July 2001 and April 2003. The Administrative Court, in dismissing the appeal, rejected allegations of ambiguity in the European arrest warrant, culpable delay, erroneous treatment of his argument based on art 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights and proportionality, including the availability of less coercive measures. 

Costs – Order for costs. The Family Division ruled that a father, who had brought family proceedings seeking contact with his daughter, and who had unsuccessfully brought committal proceedings against CAFCASS officers, and against the third defendant solicitor, who had represented his former partner, had to pay the third defendant's costs on the indemnity basis. 

Practice – Judgments and orders. The Intellectual Property Enterprise Court ruled that, while it had jurisdiction to reconsider its earlier judgment on a claim for copyright infringement, the claimant was not entitled to such a reconsideration in circumstances where it could not be shown that information, which the claimant sought to rely on in applying for reconsideration, could not have been obtained without reasonable diligence for use at the trial. 

Commercial contract – Construction. Court of Session: Dismissing a reclaiming motion an action by a pursuer who, during his employment with the defenders became a partner and invested money in seven limited partnerships designed to reward employees and provide them with performance incentives, and who on leaving the defenders' employment was told he was a 'competing leaver' in terms of the partnership agreements and therefore only entitled to restricted payment for his share in each partnership, the court held that the Lord Ordinary had reached the correct conclusion for the correct reasons when he decided that the pursuer was not a 'competing leaver' and granted declarator that he was an ordinary leaver. 

Civil procedure – Decree by default – Reduction of decree. Court of Session: In an action in which the pursuers sought reduction of a decree by default of the Court of Session, pronounced in January 2009, reducing a disposition granted in their favour, the court held that having regard to what the pursuers offered to prove it could not be said that they would be bound to fail at proof and it therefore repelled the defender's plea to the relevancy and to dismiss the action and allowed a proof before answer. 

Limitation of action – Accrual of cause of action. The Central London County Court dismissed the claimant lender's claim for damages for professional negligence against the defendant valuer on the ground that, among other things, it was statute-barred.