Latest Cases

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. 

European Union – Rules on competition. The Court of Justice of the European Union ruled on: (i) the appeal by Fresh Del Monte Produce Inc. (Del Monte) in Case C-293/13 P; (ii) the appeal by the European Commission in Case C-294/13 P; and (iii) the cross-appeals by Del Monte and another company, concerning the rejection by the General Court of the European Union of the action by Del Monte for annulment of the Commission's decision by which it had found that Del Monte had participated in a single and continuous infringement of art 81 EC for which it had imposed a substantial fine on Del Monte. 

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. 

Immigration – Leave to remain. The claimant Indian nationals were unlawfully detained and removed from the United Kingdom due to their immigration advisor's fraud. They issued judicial review proceedings, challenging the defendant Secretary of State's ongoing failure to consider action in their successful appeals. The Administrative Court, in dismissing the application, held that, notwithstanding the defects in the Secretary of State's conduct, there was no proper basis upon which the claim for judicial review and damages could succeed, as there had been no properly pleaded public law claim. 

Patent – Infringement. The claimant had applied for declarations of non-infringement regarding the defendant's patent for a cancer treatment drug. The declarations were granted by a judge who found that there was no infringement of the defendant's patent. The Court of Appeal, Civil Division, allowed the defendant's appeal on the ground that the judge had erred in assuming that the claim had extended only to the solid form of the drug and not to the drug when in solution. Consequently, there was indirect infringement of the patent and the declaration of non-infringement would be set aside. 

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 – 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. 

European Union – Trade marks. The General Court of the European Union dismissed the action brought by Silicium España Laboratorios, SL, (Silicium) against the decision of the First Chamber of the Board of Appeal of the Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market (Trade Marks and Designs), relating to invalidity proceedings between LLR-G5 Ltd and Silicium concerning the application by LLR-G5 Ltd for a declaration of invalidity in respect of the transfer to Silicium of the registration of the word sign 'LLRG5' which had been registered as a Community trade mark. 

Immigration – Leave to remain. The appellant brothers had been refused indefinite leave to remain, and the Upper Tribunal (Immigration and Asylum Chamber) dismissed their appeal, finding that there was no family life between them and their mother, although she also had indefinite leave to remain, as she appeared to spend most of her time in India. Further, as adults, they had not demonstrated a relationship of dependence over and above the usual emotional ties. The Court of Appeal, Civil Division, dismissed their appeal. The tribunal's findings on the issue of proportionality had not been flawed and no reasonable tribunal, on the facts as found, could properly have come to a different conclusion. 

Insolvency – Practice. A company applied for an injunction to restrain a creditor (CV) from presenting a winding-up petition on the basis that the debt claimed by CV in a statutory demand was disputed on substantial grounds and that the petition would amount to an abuse of process. The Companies Court, in dismissing the application, held that the company had been unable to demonstrate a genuine dispute on substantial grounds as regards CV's claim for unpaid retainer fees of US$600,000. On the facts, it would not be an abuse of process for CV to present a petition to wind-up the company based on that debt.