Latest Cases

European Union – Jurisdiction. The Court of Justice of the European Union gave a preliminary ruling relating to the interpretation of art 5(1) and (3), and Chapter II, Section 5 (arts 18 to 21), and art 60(1) of Council Regulation (EC) No 44/2001. The request had been made in proceedings between Holterman Ferho Exploitatie BV and three of its subsidiary companies and Mr Spies von Büllesheim concerning the latter's liability as manager of those companies and a claim that he be ordered to pay damages. 

Value added tax – Value added tax. The Court of Justice of the European Union gave a preliminary ruling concerning the interpretation of art 148(a) of Council Directive (EC) 2006/112. The request had been made in proceedings between 'Fast Bunkering Klaipėda' UAB ('FBK') and the State Tax Inspectorate under the Finance Ministry of Lithuania concerning the status of supplies of fuel to intermediaries acting in their own name with regard to VAT. 

European Union – EU institutions. The General Court of the European Union upheld the action brought by SV Capital OU (SV) for annulment of Decision 2014-C1-02 of the Board of Appeal of the European Supervisory Authorities which had dismissed the action brought by SV against the decision of the European Banking Authority to reject SV's request for an investigation to be initiated into the Estonian and Finnish financial sector supervisory authorities, pursuant to art 17(2) of Regulation (EU) No 1093/2010 as a result of an alleged breach of EU law. The General Court decided that the Board of Appeal had lacked the competence to decide on that appeal on the basis of art 60(1) of that regulation. 

Value added tax – Overpayment of tax. The Upper Tribunal (Tax and Chancery Chamber) dismissed an appeal by the taxpayer car dealer company on the basis that the First tier (tax chamber) was entitled to infer, in the absence of documentary evidence from the taxpayer, that the taxpayer had not accounted for VAT on bonuses paid by manufacturers to the taxpayer on purchase of demonstrator and courtesy cars in relevant claim periods. 

Family proceedings – Orders in family proceedings. The Family Division granted, in seven cases (the eighth case having been adjourned), the declaration of parentage sought, in circumstances where it had subsequently come to light that there had been administrative errors by certain fertility clinics, concerning consent to acquisition of parenthood. 

Solemn procedure – Defective representation. High Court of Justiciary: Refusing an appeal by an appellant who was convicted of the murder of his wife, the court, having rejected grounds of appeal based on defective representation (1) in the preparation for trial; (2) in the conduct of the trial; and (3) consisting in a restriction in the appellant's ability to select appropriate representation, added comments in relation to the latter issue, including that the current Rules for the Conduct of Solicitor Advocates 2002 were inadequate and should be amended. 

Mental health – Judicial review – Human rights. Court of Session: Refusing a judicial review petition by a petitioner who had been detained in the State Hospital since pleading guilty to a charge of culpable homicide on the basis of diminished responsibility and being made subject to compulsion and restriction orders, who contended there was no treatment for his dissocial personality disorder that could not equally be provided in prison but whose request to be transferred to prison was refused by the Scottish Ministers who said they had no power to do so, the court rejected contentions that the petitioner's continued detention in the State Hospital was in breach of arts 3 and/or 5 of the European Convention on Human Rights and that the Mental Health (Care and Treatment) (Scotland) Act 2003 was non-convention compliant because of the absence of any provision allowing transfer of persons from the State Hospital to prison. 

Local authority – Child protection – Failure to perform statutory duty. Court of Session: Refusing a judicial review petition brought by a father against decisions a local authority had taken in respect of his two sons, the court rejected allegations that the respondents had failed to perform their statutory duty to safeguard and promote the welfare of the two boys, and that the petitioner and his sons' rights not to be subjected to torture or inhuman or degrading treatment had been breached, and it also held that the petitioner did not have standing to present the petition and that the respondents' plea of mora was well founded. 

European Union – Rules on competition. The applicant companies sought the annulment of the respondent European Commission's decision that they had been involved in a cartel and the annulment or reduction of the fines imposed on them. The General Court of the European Union dismissed the challenge to the finding of cartel involvement, but reduced the fines, as the Commission had departed from the 2006 Guidelines on the method of setting fines imposed as to the requirement to take an undertaking's best available figures of the value of sales. 

European Union – Employment. The Court of Justice of the European Union ruled that art 2(1) of European Parliament and Council Directive (EC) 2003/88 had to be interpreted as meaning that, in circumstances such as those at issue in the main proceedings, in which workers did not have a fixed or habitual place of work, the time spent by those workers travelling each day between their homes and the premises of the first and last customers designated by their employer constituted 'working time', within the meaning of that provision.