Latest Cases

Order – Variation. A solicitor represented the second defendant in proceedings concerning a finance agreement made between the claimant Islamic Investment Company, and the first defendant diamond trader. The solicitor conducted fictitious litigation. Once discovered, his employment with a firm of solicitors was terminated. The second defendant applied to set aside two orders made against him in the real litigation. The Commercial Court granted the application in respect of one of the orders, but not in respect of the other. 

Marriage – Validity. The parties were parents to two children. The petitioner wife was a Sunni Muslim, whereas the respondent husband was a member of the Ahmahdi faith. At the time of the celebration of their marriage in Lahore in September 2005, both parties were resident and, it appeared, domiciled in Pakistan. The petitioner sought a declaration pursuant to s 55(1)(a) and (b) of the Family Law Act 1986 to the effect that the marriage was at its inception a valid marriage and that it subsisted as such on 18 March 2013, being the date upon which her current divorce petition had been issued. The Family Division held that the marriage had indeed been valid. 

Child – Abduction. The mother and father of two children had divorced and the mother had taken the children from Hungary, where they had lived, to the United Kingdom. The father made an application, under the Hague Convention on Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction 1980, for the children's summary return to Hungary. The Family Division held that there had been a wrongful removal of the children and that the mother had not succeeded in establishing any of her defences. Accordingly, the children would be returned to Hungary. 

Company – Scheme of arrangement. The Chancery Division sanctions schemes of arrangement in respect of the Apcoa group, a leading pan European car park operator. 

European Union – Environment. The Court of Justice of the European Union made a preliminary ruling concerning the interpretation of arts 4 and 19 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union and arts 13, 22, 23 and 30 of Directive (EC) 2008/50 of the European Parliament and of the Council (on ambient air quality and cleaner air for Europe). The request had been made in proceedings between ClientEarth, a non‑governmental organisation interested in protection of the environment, and the United Kingdom Secretary of State for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, concerning that organisation's request for revision of the air quality plans drawn up by the UK under Directive 2008/50 for certain of its zones and agglomerations. 

Minor – Abduction. The present proceedings concerned an application by a father for the summary return of his son to Australia following the parents' separation. The Family Division, in allowing the application, held amongst other things that it was not possible to conclude that there was a strength, conviction and rationality that could be said to amount to an objection sufficient to satisfy the exception in art 13B of the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction 1980. 

Family proceedings – Jurisdiction. The proceedings concerned an infant, J, who was born in the United Kingdom to Hungarian parents. During care proceedings, an issue arose as to jurisdiction. The Family Court ordered that a request under art 15 of Council Regulation (EC) 2201/2003 be made, requesting the Hungarian courts to accept jurisdiction. In so ordering, it held that J had a particular connection to Hungary, that the Hungarian courts were better placed to decide the issues for J and that it would be in J's best interests for the Hungarian courts to decide the issues as to her long-term future. 

European Union – Access to information. The General Court of the European Union granted the application by the applicant Mr Ionnis Ntouvas for annulment of the decision of the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) refusing the applicant access to the final audit reports carried out on the ECDC by the Internal Audit Service of the European Commission. 

Costs – Order for costs. Following an earlier judgment in which the Commercial Court had upheld the claimant companies' claim for business Interruption losses and interest, the court held that, although the claimants had been the successful parties, they would be denied any costs from a period of 21 days after a CPR pt 36 offer to settle had been made on behalf of the defendant. Further, the defendant was entitled to its costs on a standard basis from that date. 

Mental health – Court of Protection. The Court of Protection held that where a person, often elderly, who was both physically and mentally disabled to a severe extent, was being looked after in her own home, and where the arrangements happen to be made, and paid for, by a local authority, rather than by the person's own family and paid for from her own funds, or from funds provided by members of her family, art 5 of the European Convention on Human Rights was simply not engaged as there was no deprivation of liberty.