Latest Cases

Landlord and tenant – Recovery of possession. The claimant, a fully mutual housing association, had granted the defendants a tenancy of a property on the terms of a tenancy agreement. The claimant sought possession of the property after significant rent arrears had accumulated on the defendants' account. The Chancery Division rejected the defendants' defences and made an order for possession. 

Company – Sale of company. The proceedings related to payment obligations arising out of the sale to the defendant company of a 50% interest in a company held by the claimant. The Commercial Court made a number of findings. Among other things, it allowed the claimant's application to join the Royal Bank of Canada as a co-claimant and allowed the defendant's claim against the claimant and a third party company. 

Family proceedings – Orders in family proceedings. The appeal concerned what regard, if any, when considering an application to extend the time for appealing in a family case relating to children, the judge should have to the overall merits of the proposed appeal. The Court of Appeal, Civil Division, in allowing the father's appeal, held that, in the present case, the judge had underestimated the underlying merits of the father's appeal, considering that the new grounds of appeal had been merely arguable when, in truth, they had been unanswerable. That flawed analysis had caused him to attribute no real weight to the underlying merits in his relief from sanction analysis. The present case was one where the court could see, without much investigation, that the proposed grounds of appeal were very strong and the merits had a significant part to play when it came to balancing the various factors that had to be considered. 

Mental health – Court of Protection. Three young persons subject to orders under the Irish Mental Health system were transferred to an institution in the United Kingdom. The Health Service Executive of Ireland (the HSE) sought orders under s 63 of and Sch 3 to the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA 2005) recognising and enforcing the orders made by the Irish High Court for the detention of the young persons. The Court of Protection found that the Irish Orders had to be recognised and enforced. 

Estoppel – Proprietary estoppel. The proceedings concerned a dispute between members of a family as to the beneficial ownership of a farm. Under wills made by the deceased father of the claimant in 1999, the farm was left on trust for the claimant subject to certain conditions. The claimant, relying on proprietary estoppel, contended that that was contrary to oral promises, made by his father and assented to by his mother, that he would inherit the farm. The Chancery Division held that the claimant had established a proprietary estoppel such that it would be unconscionable to deny the claimant an equity in the farm. However, the equity did not extend to a bungalow on the farm, which had been occupied by the claimant's siblings and mother. 

Parent and child – Adoption – Recognition of foreign adoption. Court of Session: In a petition in which the petitioners sought recognition of an Ethiopian adoption order at common law, there being no mechanism for its statutory recognition in Scotland, the court considered that it was competent to pronounce the order sought, and it did so. 

European Union – Taxation. Kernkraftwerke Lippe-Ems GmbH (KLE) brought proceedings against the Principal Customs Office, Osnabruck, concerning a levy on nuclear fuel for which KLE was liable under German law in respect of the use by that company of fuel assemblies in the nuclear reactor of that power station. In the course of those proceedings, the Court of Justice of the European Union gave a preliminary ruling concerning the interpretation of arts 107 and 267 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU), art 14(1)(a) of Council Directive (EC) 2003/96, art 1(1) and (2) of Council Directive (EC) 2008/118, and various other provisions of EU law. 

Immigration – Deportation. The respondent Secretary of State decided to deport the appellant to the Gambia, pursuant to s 32 of the UK Borders Act 2007. His appeals against that decision were dismissed. The Court of Appeal, Civil Division, in dismissing the appellant's appeal, held that the conclusion of the First-tier Tribunal (Immigration and Asylum Chamber), that the appellant's relationship with a woman had not reached the stage at which it could be described as family life, was not insupportable or perverse. Further, none of the factors on which the appellant could rely as militating against his deportation were unusual, nor could it possibly be said that, taken together, they amounted to very compelling circumstances that could outweigh the public interest in deportation. 

European Union – Customs and excise. The Court of Justice of the European Union gave a preliminary ruling, deciding that the Combined Nomenclature in Annex I to Council Regulation (EEC) No 2658/87, as amended, should be interpreted as meaning that a reading device for electronic books which had a translation or dictionary function should, where that function was not its principal function, that being a matter for the national court to ascertain, be classified under subheading 8543 70 90 and not under subheading 8543 70 10. 

Solicitor – Partnership. On termination of a solicitors' partnership, the claimant sought payment of around £150,000 which he claimed stood to his credit in his capital account. Although there was no written partnership agreement, the judge held that, on the documentary evidence, and preferring the claimant's evidence, the capital payment was due. The Court of Appeal, Civil Division, dismissed the defendant's appeal as there had been no abandonment by the claimant of his pleaded case and the judge had been entitled to say that the documents had 'strongly' supported his finding that an agreement for the payment had been reached between the parties.