Latest Cases

Contempt of court – Committal. The first defendant brought a claim against the claimant insurer as a result of a fall in a car park. The second and third defendants, his wife and stepson respectively, gave evidence in support of the first defendant's claim. The claimant denied the claim on the basis that the case was based on an audacious lie, and that the first defendant and his family had attempted fraudulently to repackage a vacation mishap as a very valuable claim for compensation. The claimant applied to commit the defendants for contempt of court. The Queen's Bench Division dismissed the application. 

Conflict of laws – Stay of proceedings. Following a dispute arising from an International Swaps and Derivatives Association Master Agreement, the defendants submitted requests for conciliation to the conciliation authority in Zurich and the claimant issued proceedings in England. The defendants sought a stay of the English proceedings. However, their Swiss proceedings were subsequently dismissed. The Chancery Division held that the initiating of conciliation proceedings by the lodging of a written request for conciliation fell within art 30 of the Lugano Convention. Were it not for the fact that the Swiss proceedings had been dismissed, a stay of the English proceedings would have been granted. 

Sentence – Custodial sentence. The claimant sought judicial review of the sentence of six months' imprisonment for battery and seven days' imprisonment, to run concurrently, for criminal damage. The Divisional Court, in allowing the application, held that a custodial sentence was not inappropriate. However, given the mitigating factors, the maximum sentence had not been proper. Accordingly, the custodial sentence would be reduced to two months to reflect the mitigating features, the real damage to the claimant and also the consequences of his unlawful conduct. 

Child – Sexual abuse. A mother had terminated all contact between her children and their father and alleged that he had sexually abused them or otherwise harmed them or, at the very least, exposed them to inappropriate sexual behaviour/language. A fact-finding hearing was established to determine whether the allegations had been proved. The Family Division held that the mother had not satisfied, on a balance of probability, that the father had behaved towards, or in the presence of, the children in any inappropriately sexualised way, or exposed them to inappropriate sexual language. 

Employment – Contract of service. The defendant purported to resign from his employment with the claimant firm. However, his resignation was within the initial period within which he was not entitled to terminate according to the terms of his employment agreement. The claimant sought a declaration that the defendant continued to be in its employment and an order that restrained him from working elsewhere in accordance with the restrictive covenant in the agreement. The Queen's Bench Division allowed the application on the basis that the defendant remained employed until the expiry of his notice period, as modified by the claimant during the course of pre-litigation negotiations. The restrictive covenant would be enforced in modified form to reflect what was necessary protection for the claimant with regard to its clients and confidential information. 

Mental health – Court of Protection. The patient was an elderly lady of 79 years, 'J', with longstanding mental health problems and also, in later years, cancer. The relevant NHS Trust issued a notice of application in the Court of Protection seeking declarations: (i) that J lacked capacity to litigate; (ii) that she lacked capacity to take decisions about the proposed medical investigations and treatment; and (iii) that it was in her best interests to have those investigations and treatment. Having regard to the Mental Capacity Act 2005, the court made the declarations sought. 

Family proceedings – Orders in family proceedings. The applicant local authorities applied for care orders in respect of six children cared for by the respondents, CW, VB and ZB. The parties agreed that the criteria for the imposition of care orders were met, but disagreed as to the factual basis upon which the criteria were satisfied. The authorities sought findings of fact against CW, VB and ZB in respect of alleged physical and sexual abuse of the children and failing to protect them from the same. The Family Court made the majority of the findings of fact sought by the local authorities in respect of each respondent. 

Trusts and trustees – Amendment of trust deed – Validity of amending deeds. Court of Session: Granting decree in an action for payment by trustees of a pension fund in which the defenders denied liability, questioning whether the formal amendment procedure set out in the original trust documents was followed, the court held that the amending documents were valid and accordingly the trustees were entitled to decree. 

Criminal law – Money laundering. The appellant was convicted of offences under the Financial and Anti-Money Laundering Act 2002 in Mauritius. The Supreme Court of Mauritius dismissed his appeal on the grounds that he bore the burden of establishing the 'business activities' exemption and that that exemption did not apply. The Privy Council, in dismissing the appellant's appeal, held that, on the ordinary meaning of 'business activities', the appellant's activities were not within it. Further, the Supreme Court had been right to hold that it had been for the appellant to show that the transaction had been within one of the exempt categories. 

Personal injury – Breach of statutory duty. Court of Session: In an action by a pursuer who injured her back in the course of her employment with the defenders as a sales surveyor, the court held that the pursuer had proved how the accident happened, that it was caused by defenders' breach of statutory duty, and that there was no contributory negligence by the pursuer.