Latest Cases

Employment – Continuity of employment. In dismissing the employers' appeal, the Employment Appeal Tribunal held that the employment tribunal (the tribunal) had directed itself correctly and applied the correct law in holding that there had been a transfer of undertakings pursuant to reg 3(1)(a) of the Transfer of Undertakings Protection of Employment Regulations 2006, SI 2006/246. Further, the employees had had locus standi to bring protective award claims in their own names, the mandates of the employees' representatives having expired. 

Extradition – Extradition hearing. The district judge ordered that the appellant Latvian nationals should be extradited to Latvia pursuant to European arrest warrants. The appellants appealed on the basis that there was a real risk that their rights under art 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights would be breached if they were detained in prison in Latvia. Dismissing the appeal, the Administrative Court held that a general attack on Latvian prison conditions could not possibly succeed. Further, none of the appellants had been able to present special circumstances which had given rise to a real risk of treatment contrary to art 3 of the Convention. 

Employment – Unfair dismissal. The employment tribunal (the tribunal) found that the employee, who previously had a poor attendance record, had been dismissed unfairly by reason of her pregnancy. It made an award in respect of a basic award and a compensatory award. The employer appealed against the failure by the tribunal to make any deduction by way of contributory conduct. Allowing the appeal, the Employment Appeal Tribunal held that the tribunal had erred in law in failing to consider whether or not there had been a chance, on the evidence, that the employee would have been dismissed, fairly, in any event. 

Disclosure and inspection of documents – Privilege. The claimant applied for the destruction of certain documents claiming confidentiality and privilege. The defendant maintained that privilege had been waived. The Queen's Bench Division held that there was no foundation in fact for the defendants' argument about waiver. Given the highly confidential nature of the privileged document, there was no arguable basis for contending that there had been a waiver by the claimant of his privilege in the material. 

Employment – Employment tribunal. The employee brought various complaints of race and disability discrimination before the employment tribunal. An employment judge struck out a number of those complaints as out of time and the employee appealed. The Employment Appeal Tribunal held that the judge had erred in his characterisation of one of the complaints as being solely a matter of race discrimination. Save on that point, the appeal would be dismissed as there had been no continuing act or state of affairs such as to mean that the other complaints had been in time. 

Unfair dismissal – Determination whether dismissal fair or unfair. In allowing the employer's appeal against the finding by the employment tribunal (the tribunal) of unfair dismissal, the Employment Appeal Tribunal held that the tribunal had erred in substituting its view of the fairness of the employee's dismissal for gross misconduct in entering a Class C sewer without breathing apparatus contrary to an instruction. The conclusion of the tribunal that the dismissal had been unfair had been based on erroneous views of its findings of fact. 

Medical treatment – Human reproduction. The claimant sought funding for oocyte cryopreservation before she began chemotherapy. The defendant refused and the claimant sought judicial review. The Administrative Court, in dismissing the application, rejected the claimant's main argument that the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence's strong recommendation that oocyte cryopreservation should be offered to those in a like case to the claimant was a relevant consideration. It further rejected her claims of gender discrimination. 

Contract – Construction. The claim concerned notice provisions of an International Swaps and Derivatives Master Agreement 1992 and whether a bank had validly exercised its contractual right to extend the term of a five-year interest rate collar transaction by giving notice to the defendant company. The Chancery Division held that the purported notice sent by the bank by email was not a valid and effective notice and did not operate to extend the term of the collar. 

Judicial review – Leave to apply for judicial review. The landlord commenced possession proceedings in relation to the claimant who was a tenant. The claimant subsequently filed a defence to those proceedings. The matter came before the a judge who made an order for possession and struck out the defence. A warrant for possession was obtained and the claimant's application to strike out the possession order was struck out. The claimant appealed to a circuit judge however that judge found that the case had no merit and refused permission to appeal. The claimant appealed unsuccessfully to the Court of Appeal. Following that, the claimant therefore sought judicial review of the County Court's refusal of permission to appeal. The Administrative Court dismissed the application on the basis that the claimant could not bring himself within the exceptional circumstances required for the court to judicially review a Circuit judge's refusal of permission and the application should therefore be dismissed 

Practice – Pre-trial or post-judgment relief. The defendant sought the discharge of a freezing injunction made against the background of proceedings alleging fraudulent and dishonest breaches of his duty. He contended that there was no real risk that he would dissipate his assets and that the claimant had failed to make full disclosure when applying for the freezing order without notice. The Queen's Bench Division, in dismissing the application, held that there was an inference of a risk that the defendant would dissipate his assets and that the omissions in disclosure were not sufficiently serious to lead to the discharge of the freezing order.