Latest Cases

Extradition – Extradition order. The issue for determination was whether the judge had erred in admitting an Interpol 'red notice', which was not duly authenticated under the Extradition Act 2003. The Divisional Court held that the correct test was whether a document, not authenticated under s 202(3) of the Act, was admissible as evidence of the facts stated in it according to the English rules of criminal evidence. It allowed the appellant's appeal against the judge's decision to send his case to the Secretary of State, as the red notice had been inadmissible and it could not be proved that the appellant was the requested person. 

Freedom of information – Local government. Court of Session: Refusing an appeal by an appellant who was dissatisfied with the response to his request for information relating to the process of revision of a local authority's disciplinary policy and applied to the Scottish Information Commissioner, who decided that all relevant information held by council had been identified and disclosed to him, the court held that the first ground of appeal raised no point of law and appeared to proceed on a misunderstanding of the role of the Commissioner and of the appeal court, a similar misconception appeared to run through the second ground of appeal, and the third ground, which appeared to be dependent on the first two grounds and identified no relevant point of law, was also without merit. 

Arbitration – Commencement. The buyer appealed against an arbitration award as to the price of cotton. The Commercial Court held that the award would be upheld in relation to the first issue. On the second issue, the court held that the issue of law as to which permission to appeal had been given only answered a part of the question as to what had been the applicable price it would be appropriate to remit the matter to the Tactical Appeal Committee. 

Adoption – Practice. In circumstances where the child's paternal family sought leave to challenge an adoption order under s 47(5) of the Adoption and Children Act 200, the Family Court held that as the court had to have regard to the ability and willingness of any of the child's relatives to provide the child with a secure environment in which the child could develop, there were strong welfare reasons for granting the father leave to oppose the adoption application. 

Receiver – Appointed by court. The applicant receiver applied for payment of all legal costs and remuneration. The Administrative Court, in allowing the application, held that a contention that the receiver, as trustee, had failed to bring property into the receivership account could not be advanced in an application for a general account, without having also raised an allegation of wilful default, negligence or other breach of duty for which the receiver had been liable to compensate the intervener beneficiaries. Further, a prior order had not acted to prevent the receiver claiming disbursements from gross receipts that he should have provided in the costs proceedings. 

European Union – Finance. The Court of Justice of the European union made a preliminary ruling concerning the interpretation of various provisions of Directive (EC) 94/19 (on deposit-guarantee schemes), as amended by Directive (EC) 2009/14, and of Directive (EC) 97/9 (on investor-compensation schemes). The request had been made in proceedings brought by 'Indėlių ir investicijų draudimas' VĮ and Mr Nemaniunas concerning the validity of an agreement for the acquisition of a certificate of deposit and a number of bond subscription agreements. 

Family proceedings – Orders in family proceedings. The local authority applied for a care order in respect of a young child, N, as a result of his attendance at hospital following his collapse. There was radiological evidence of possible hypoxic-ischemic brain injury. The Family Court held that, on the evidence, N's injuries had resulted from an innocent, but ill-advised, resuscitative shake by his mother. However, in the circumstances, the threshold criteria of s 31(2) of the Children Act 1989 were not satisfied and, therefore, the application for a care order would be dismissed, with the consequence that N would return to the care of his mother and father. 

European Union – Trade marks. The General Court of the European Union dismissed the action brought by Yoshida Metal Industry Co. Ltd (Yoshida) against a decision of the First Board of Appeal of the Office for Harmonisation in the European Union (Trade Marks and Designs) concerning invalidity proceedings between Pi-Design AG and two other companies and Yoshida, regarding the application by the latter company for registration of a figurative sign depicting a two-dimensional representation of the handles of knives, as a Community trade mark. 

Personal injury – Health and safety – Liability. Court of Session: Granting decree of absolvitor in an action by a shop assistant who was injured when she fell off a footstool she was using to hang clothing up on racks in the defenders' shop, the court held that it had not been shown that the accident happened as a result of any use of the stool in breach of the employer's duties. 

Adoption – Order. The applicant family members sought to remove two children to the United States of America where they hoped to adopt them. The Family Division held that the applicants were unable to bring themselves within s 84 of the Adoption and Children Act 2002 for the purposes of obtaining parental responsibility and removing the children from the United Kingdom, as they did not and had never had a home in the UK.