Latest Cases

Immigration – Detention. The claimant claimed damages for unlawful immigration detention due to her allegations of torture and misfeasance in public office with respect to her attempted removal absent consideration of her further representations. The Queen's Bench Division, in dismissing the application, held that there had been no independent evidence of torture and the fact that the attempted removal had been unlawful did not mean that the purpose of her detention had ceased to be lawful. Further, there was no evidence of the relevant officials' state of mind such as to find misfeasance in public office. 

Patent – Practice. The Court of Appeal, Civil Division, considered an appeal against a decision to grant summary judgment in favour of the defendant in proceedings for patent infringement. The court rejected the claimant's contention that the judge had wrongly granted summary judgment without the benefit of hearing expert evidence which would throw light upon the issues of construction and infringement. 

Costs – Order for costs. The claimants brought a single claim alleging that the defendant companies had infringed their patent. The court in earlier proceedings found in favour of the claimants. The claimants contended that they were entitled to a sum in excess of the sum capped for proceedings in the Intellectual Property and Enterprise Court and contended that CPR 63.17A had to be taken to mean that the cap of £500,000 applied separately to each defendant. The court held that the cap of £500,000 was absolute, unless the parties agreed otherwise and the court had no discretion to lift it. Accordingly, the cap applied to the claim against both defendants. 

European Union – Income tax. The Court of Justice of the European Union ruled that art 63 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union should be interpreted as precluding national legislation such as that at issue in the main proceedings which provided that the failure by a non-resident investment fund to comply with the obligations to communicate and publish certain information required by that legislation, which were applicable without distinction to resident and non-resident investment funds alike, resulting in the flat-rate taxation of the income which the taxpayer earned from that investment fund, since that legislation did not allow the taxpayer to provide evidence or information that could prove the actual size of that income. 

Estoppel – Res judicata. The claimant lending company, CFB, sought to execute a warrant of possession on property owned by the defendants. The defendants had defaulted on two loans, applying to a house and a set of cottages. A dispute arose as to whether CFB would be prevented by cause of action estoppel from relying upon the house charge as security for the cottages loan. The Court of Appeal, Civil Division, held that CFB would be prevented from doing so, but that the question of whether an enforceable contract had existed so that CFB would not be able to enforce the charge on the house so long as instalments on the house loan were paid would be referred to the county court. 

Town and country planning – Enforcement notice. The first respondent Secretary of State's inspector dismissed the appellant's appeal against an enforcement notice on the basis that there had been no continuous breach of planning control for a period of four years. The appellant appealed. The Administrative Court, in dismissing the appeal, held that there was no discernible basis upon which the inspector had fallen into error. 

Practice – Post-trial or pre-judgment relief. The claimant and the defendant were companies incorporated under the laws of Zambia. Pursuant to certain contracts, which provided for arbitration in London, the claimant mined one of the defendant's mines in Zambia. Following a dispute, the London arbitration tribunal made two awards in favour of the claimant and it was granted a worldwide freezing order by the English court. The Commercial Court granted the claimant's application to continue the order, where there was a risk of dissipation of assets and it was just and convenient to do so. The fact that enforcement of an award would take place in Zambia was, by itself, insufficient to make it inappropriate for the English court to grant the order. 

European Union – Public procurement. The claimant company had failed in a public procurement tender conducted by the defendant Ministry of Defence. The claimant alleged an abnormally low tender and predatory pricing on the part of the winning bidder. A statutory suspension pursuant to reg 56 of the Defence and Security Public Contracts Regulations 2011, SI 2011/1848, came into effect. The Technology and Construction Court allowed the MOD's application for a lifting of the suspension as there was a serious issue to be tried, damages were an adequate remedy and the balance of convenience was in favour of the suspension being lifted. 

Immigration – Leave to remain. The claimant sought judicial review of the decision of the Secretary of State, refusing his application for leave to remain, first, because he had not signed the application form and then because the application was out of time. The Administrative Court, in allowing the application and quashing the decision, held that the Secretary of State should have considered exercising her residual discretion to grant leave to remain outside the Immigration Rules. 

Criminal law – Sexual assault. The offender had been convicted of assault by penetration contrary to s 2 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003 and was sentenced to three years and six months' imprisonment. The victim had been in a lengthy relationship with the offender and there had been previous incidences of domestic violence. In sentencing, the judge had taken into account, amongst other things, a plea made by the victim, who had sought to withdraw her statement at trial. The Court of Appeal, Criminal Division, held that given the background and the gravity of the offence, the sentence had been unduly lenient. Consequently, the sentence was increased to seven years' imprisonment.