Latest Cases

Judicial review – Act of Scottish Parliament. Court of Session: Refusing a judicial review petition challenging the lawfulness of provisions in an Act of the Scottish Parliament establishing the framework for a scheme creating a new public service for children and young persons in Scotland, the court held that Pt 4 of the Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2014 did not contravene rights under the European Convention on Human Rights, EU law on data protection or fundamental common law rights; it was unnecessary to make a reference to the European Court of Justice for a preliminary ruling; the subject matter of the legislation was within the devolved competence of the Scottish Parliament; and the first to fourth petitioners did not have standing to bring the proceedings. 

Statute – Construction. The Supreme Court considered the issue of whether the Recovery of Medical Costs for Asbestos Diseases (Wales) Bill was within the legislative competence of the National Assembly for Wales (the Welsh Assembly). The court held that, on the true construction of the relevant legislation, the Bill fell outside the legislative competence of the Welsh Assembly, in that it did not relate to any of the subjects listed in para 9 of Pt 1 of Sch 7 to the Government of Wales Act 2006. 

Damages and compensation – Miscarriage of justice – Ex gratia compensation scheme. Court of Session: Refusing a reclaiming motion in judicial review proceedings in which the petitioner, whose rape conviction was quashed on appeal, challenged decisions refusing his application under a non-statutory ex gratia scheme for compensating persons who had spent time in custody following wrongful conviction, the court, agreeing with the Lord Ordinary, held that the Scottish Ministers' decision letters did not demonstrate rational and adequately reasoned exercises of their undoubtedly wide discretion in determining whether there were, in the petitioner's case, exceptional circumstances that justified compensation. 

Reparation – Personal injury – Liability – Quantum. Court of Session: In an action by an 81-year-old pursuer who alleged that she fell and broke her collar bone due to the negligence of a bus driver employed by the defender, the court made an award of £10,000 for solatium after holding that the defenders were liable to the pursuer because their driver, contrary to the defenders' policy and in breach of common law, failed to ensure that a passenger who he had seen was elderly and unsteady was seated before moving off, and the movement of the bus while the pursuer was not seated caused her to fall. 

Negligence – Causation. Following the trial of a preliminary issue regarding the defendant's liability to the claimant in respect of her treatment for an infection and her subsequent total knee replacement, the Queen's Bench Division held that the defendant was liable in damages for the claimant having to undergo the total knee replacement in 2008 rather than when she would have been about 49 years old, and liable for the post total knee replacement infection and all of its consequences by way of the further infections and operations and the claimant's resulting disability. 

Solicitor – Client account. In two claims, the claimants brought proceedings against the defendant solicitors' firm, Mishcon. Mishcon had indirectly received payments from the claimants, which it then passed to third parties on the instructions of one of its claims. The Chancery Division, in dismissing the claimants' claims, held that there had been no Quistclose trust created, nor would the claimants' claims in dishonest assistance or unlawful means conspiracy succeed. 

Employment – Contract. The claimants were each employed by one of seven individual bargaining units for which the defendant was responsible. The defendant decided to unilaterally alter its code of practice in relation to the trigger points for procedures to be taken following absences due to staff sickness. The claimants maintained that the code formed part of their contractual terms and conditions of employment and the defendant was not entitled to make unilateral changes.The Queen's Bench Division upheld the claimants' case and granted a declaration in terms. 

Prison – Release on licence. In circumstances where the claimant sought judicial review of the delay in the determination of her application for release from custody, the Court of Appeal, Civil Division, held that there had been no breach of the obligation under art 5(4) of the European Convention on Human Rights, as a speedy determination could not have been made more quickly than it had been. 

Vicarious liability – Employer and employee. An incident at the defendants' bodywork repair shop occurred when a co-employee of the claimant, PW, used a cigarette lighter in the vicinity of the claimant, whose overalls had been sprinkled with a highly inflammable thinning agent. As a result, the overalls caught fire and caused the claimant injury. The judge found that the defendant was not vicariously liable for PW's actions. The Court of Appeal, Civil Division, in dismissing the claimant's appeal, held that the real cause of the claimant's injuries had been the conduct of PW, which could not be said to have occurred in the course of his employment. 

Trade Union – Member. The Employment Appeal Tribunal (the EAT) dismissed the appeal by a member of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) against a decision of the Certification Officer (CO) to reject all but one of his complaints that the NUM had breached its Rules by the matters set out by that member in his complaints. However, the EAT accepted that the CO had erred in including in the enforcement order on Complaint 1, text which had formed no part of remedying the breach of rule which he had found to have occurred. Accordingly, that text was deleted from the enforcement order.