Latest Cases

Adoption – Order. The father was 42. The mother was 41. They had four children who were all the subject of care proceedings mounted by the relevant local authority against the mother and the father. In due course, all the children were removed permanently from the parents with a view to either long-term fostering or adoption. There was before the court an application for the adoption of a child SSM. The father sought leave to oppose the application pursuant to s 47(5) Adoption and Children Act 2002. The father's application and the adoption application were to be one rolled-up hearing. The Family Division held that the sole question was whether it was in SSM's best interests that an adoption order be made. The father's application would be dismissed. 

Order – Variation. The claimant had applied, under the Provision for Family and Dependants Act 1975, for reasonable financial provision out of his deceased father's estate. That application had been compromised and had resulted in a consent order, providing for payments to be made to cover the claimant's university education up to a specified date. The claimant applied to vary the order to extend the funding to cover a post graduate course outside of the specified date. The Chancery Division held that it had been inaccurately anticipated at the time of the order that the claimant would have completed his post-graduate education by a certain date. Taking all factors into account, it was an appropriate case for a variation of the order under s 6 of the Act. 

Trust and trustee – Corporate trustee. The dispute arose out of contractual arrangements made in connection with a project for the construction of a national stadium and sporting complex in Grenada and, in particular, a facility agreement made with between the appellant, NS, and CLICO Investment Bank Ltd (CIB). The proceedings concerned the ownership of funds payable under that agreement which had been frozen pursuant to an ex parte injunction. The Privy Council set aside an order dismissing NS's notice of appeal against a declaration that the frozen fund was held on trust for NH. 

Liquidator – Company. In the course of the liquidation of a company, the liquidator applied for delivery of certain documents relating to the company's management: in particular, concerning the work and payment of receivers. The Companies Court made rulings as to the documents to be made available to him. 

Unfair dismissal – Determination whether dismissal fair or unfair. The employment tribunal had found that an employee had not been unfairly or wrongfully dismissed in circumstances where the employer had reasonably found him to have committed an act of dishonesty in respect of his expenses claims for mileage. The Court of Appeal, Civil Division, dismissed the employee's appeal as the tribunal had not failed to consider whether the employer had conducted a reasonable investigation into his response to the disciplinary investigations, where, what mattered, was the reasonableness of the investigation as a whole. 

European Union – Trade marks. The General Court of the European Union dismissed the action brought by Infocit - Prestacao de Servicos, Comercio Geral e Industria, Lda (Infocit), against the decision of the Second Board of Appeal of the Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market (Trade Marks and Designs), relating to opposition proceedings between Infocit and DIN - Deutsches Institut fur Normung eV, concerning the application by Infocit for registration of the word sign 'DINKOOL' as a Community trade mark. 

European Union – Trade marks. The General Court of the European Union dismissed the action brought by Compagnie des montre Longines, Francillon SA (CML), against the decision of the Fifth Board of Appeal of the Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market (Trade Marks and Designs), relating to opposition proceedings between CML and Xiuxiu Cheng, concerning the application by the latter company for registration as a Community trade mark of a figurative sign represented in black and white depicting extended wings. 

Town and country planning – Development plan. The proceedings concerned the planning core strategy adopted by the defendant local authority, which selected as its preferred option a site for the allocation of 2,000 dwellings, just over 1km away from a special protection area. The judge dismissed the claimant's claim seeking to quash part of the core strategy. The Court of Appeal, Civil Division, dismissed the claimant's appeal. It held, inter alia, that the judge had been right to have found that the earlier deficiencies in the strategic environmental assessment process had been cured and there had been no breach of Council Directive (EEC) 92/43 (on the conservation of natural habitats and of wild fauna and flora) by having failed to carry out a screening assessment until December 2008. 

Practice – Summary judgment. Following allegations of fraud in property development in Dubai, the defendant bank entered into a restructuring agreement (the RSA) with a number of parties, including the claimant. It subsequently claimed that the defendant had breached the RSA. The claimant commenced proceedings, and applied for summary judgment. The Commercial Court held that, on the expert evidence, it was not possible to conclude that the bank's case was fanciful, and dismissed the application. 

Town and country planning – Planning permission. The claimant sought judicial review of the defendant local planning authority's decision to grant planning permission for a primary school and early years centre, and associated works. The Planning Court, in dismissing the application, held that the first stage of the core strategy policy, namely, whether the development proposed was acceptable under the policy, had been satisfied and properly assessed within the officer's report. With respect to the second stage, the officer's report had not significantly misled members of the planning committee, who had been familiar with the area and had been an informed readership, with respect to the policy criteria.