Latest Cases

Local authority – Statutory powers. The claimants issued judicial review proceedings, challenging the lawfulness of the type of accommodation and level of support provided to them by the defendant local authority, pursuant to s 17 of the Children Act 1989 (the 1989 Act) and the Human Rights Act 1998. The Administrative Court, in dismissing the application, held that the authority's assessments of the children's needs had met its duty pursuant to s 17 of the 1989 Act. Further, accommodating the family in a bed and breakfast had not been unlawful in the circumstances. 

Employment – Victimisation. The employment tribunal dismissed the employee's claims of detrimental treatment on grounds of protected disclosure, under s 47B of the Employment Rights Act 1996, among other things. The Employment Appeal Tribunal, in dismissing the employee's appeal, held that it had not been persuaded that any error of law had been made out. 

Mental health – Court of Protection. In considering cost and delay in two cases, the Court of Protection expressed the view that the case management provisions in the Court of Protection Rules had proved inadequate on their own to secure the necessary changes in practice. 

Criminal procedure – Leave to appeal. High Court of Justiciary: Refusing an application for leave to appeal to the Supreme Court against a conviction for carrying out a fraudulent scheme, the court held that it would not be appropriate to grant leave to appeal on any of the three grounds, alleging contraventions of art 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights, and presented as compatibility issues, on which the application was based. 

European Union – Employment. The Court of Justice of the European Union ruled that cl 5(1) of the framework agreement on fixed-term work should be interpreted as precluding national legislation, such as that at issue in the main proceedings, which, pending the completion of competitive selection procedures for the recruitment of tenured staff of schools administered by the state, authorised the renewal of fixed-term employment contracts to fill posts of teachers and administrative, technical and auxiliary staff that were vacant and unfilled without stating a definite period for the completion of those procedures and while excluding any possibility, for those teachers and staff, of obtaining compensation for any damage suffered on account of such a renewal. 

Pension – Pension scheme. In the course of references made to the Upper Tribunal (Tax and Chancery Chamber) (the tribunal) concerning contribution notices issued against two controlling shareholders in a company in liquidation which had operated an occupational pension scheme, the tribunal ruled on two applications made by: (i) one of the controlling shareholders (DG); and (ii) the trustee of that scheme, relating to the question as to whether certain documents held by DG could not be disclosed in the proceedings relating to those references on the grounds that legal professional privilege attached to them. 

Criminal procedure – Apparent bias – Application to decline jurisdiction. High Court of Justiciary: In an application by the Crown to set aside an acquittal and grant authority to bring a new prosecution, a trial judge in 2007 having acquitted the respondent of charges of the rape and murder of two girls in 1977, the court rejected the respondent's application submitting that the Lord Justice Clerk, who had presided over another trial involving him 12 years earlier, should decline jurisdiction to hear the double jeopardy application, as the impartial and informed observer would not suspect bias as a result of the Lord Justice Clerk's past involvement with the respondent. 

Negligence – Duty to take care. The Technology and Construction Court dismissed the claimant company's claims in negligence and for breach of statutory duty against the manufacturer of a probe the failure of which it contended had been the cause of a major fire in its factory. 

Patent – Infringement. The claimant alleged infringement of its patent concerning mobile phone technology. The defendant denied infringement of the patent and contended that it lacked novelty and was obvious over prior art. The Patents Court, in allowing the claim, held that the patent did not lack novelty, was not obvious and, on the facts, it had been infringed. 

Compensation – Crime. The claimant sought compensation, under s 133 of the Criminal Justice Act 1988, following the quashing of his conviction for possession of a false identity card with intent. The Administrative Court, in dismissing the application, held that the claimant's conviction had been quashed on the basis of a newly discovered matter of law on the already known facts. Accordingly, the subsequent appreciation, on facts and circumstances known at the time of the proceedings, that the claimant had had an available statutory defence was not capable being a 'newly discovered fact' within the meaning of s 133 of the 1988 Act.