Latest Cases

Immigration – Leave to remain. The claimant sought judicial review of the competent authority's decisions finding no reasonable grounds for concluding that he had been trafficked from Vietnam to Russia or onward from Russia to the United Kingdom. The Administrative Court, in allowing the application, held that the reasonable grounds decisions had been flawed by failures to address the right question, to apply the right burden of proof, and failures to apply the sympathetic and inquisitorial approach to credibility advocated in the defendant Secretary of State's guidance. That also constituted a breach of the duty of inquiry, under art 4 of the European Convention on Human Rights. 

European Union – Trade marks. The General Court of the European Union dismissed the action brought by Infocit — Prestação de Serviços, Comércio Geral e Indústria, Lda (Infocit) against the decision of the Second Board of Appeal of the Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market (OHIM) concerning opposition proceedings between DIN — Deutsches Institut für Normung eV and Infocit regarding the application by the latter company for registration of the word sign 'DINKOOL' as a Community trade mark. 

European Union – Workers. The Court of Justice of the European Union gave a preliminary ruling, deciding that art 39(2) EC should be interpreted as not precluding a member state, for the purposes of charging income tax on a non-resident worker who had pursued his occupational activity in that member state during part of the year, from refusing to grant that worker a tax advantage which took account of his personal and family circumstances, on the basis that, although he had received, in that member state, all or almost all his income from that period, that income did not form the major part of his taxable income for the entire year in question. 

Trust and Trustee – Settlement. The Chancery Division approved an arrangement for the variation of the trusts of a settlement, where the trust fund was subject to inheritance tax, to incorporate a power to accumulate income to meet future periodic inheritance tax changes, and to extend the trust period. The proposed arrangement did not give rise to a resettlement of the fund and was to the beneficiaries of the trust. 

Negligence – Duty to take care. The claimant had sustained severe injuries when a collision occurred between the claimant's bicycle and the defendant's car, causing the claimant to fall sideways on to the road. The Queen's Bench Division held that, in the circumstances, primary liability was established but that the appropriate apportionment of fault for the claimant was 25 per cent. 

Practice – Order. The defendants applied to set aside a judgment made against them for failure to comply with an unless order in the disclosure of documents. The Commercial Court held that the judgment would be set aside, where it was not persuaded that it should reject as untruthful the defendants' accounts of their problems in listing certain documents that needed to be disclosed. 

Solicitor – Undertaking. The claimant company, LSC, had been the victim of a mortgage fraud. It brought a claim against the defendant solicitors, Abensons, who had undertaken that certain representations made fraudulently had been true. The Chancery Division held that the claims for breach of undertaking and breach of warranty of authority were made out, and that there had been a breach of a duty of care owed in tort by Abensons to LSC. 

Town and country planning – Permission for development. The claimant had unsuccessfully sought judicial review of the defendant local authority's decision to remove a planning condition limiting the hours of operation of a multi-use games area. The Court of Appeal, Civil Division, in dismissing the claimant's appeal, held that there was no material difference between the local policy in respect of noise, which had been considered by the authority, and the National Planning Policy Framework, which had not. 

Adoption – Consent. The mother's daughter, CB, was removed from her care and accommodated pursuant to s 20 of the Children Act 1989. She was placed with prospective adopters. The mother sought permission to, among other things, oppose the adoption. The Family Division dismissed the mother's applications and held that the only outcome that could provide sufficient stability and security was adoption. 

Will – Foreign will. The proceedings related to a will made by the deceased, B, in favour of D. B's niece, A, brought proceedings. The courts below found that there had been undue influence on the part of D. D appealed. The Privy Council, in dismissing the appeal, held that, among other things, issues of unjust enrichment in Saint Lucia had to be determined under English law. The court below had not erred.