Latest Cases

Immigration – Appeal. The appeal concerned the jurisdiction of the Upper Tribunal (Immigration and Asylum Chamber) (the UT) to consider appeals against decisions of the First-tier Tribunal (Immigration and Asylum Chamber) to make or not to make a fee award. The Court of Appeal, Civil Division, in dismissing the appeal, held that the UT had been right to conclude that it had had no jurisdiction for the reasons it had given. Further, it reconstituted itself as the Divisional Court, but refused the claimant permission to apply for judicial review. 

Claim form – Service. The Commercial Court considered preliminary issues which arose in a claim for breach of a contract for the sale of the European sugar business of Tate & Lyle plc. The court held, among other things that the phrase 'issued and served' in the contract meant issued and served in accordance with the CPR and that actual service had been effected by CPR 7.5 within the 12 month time limit provided by the contract. 

Value added tax – Bad debt relief. BT's application for bad debt relief for the period 1 January 1978 to 31 March 1989 had been refused by the Revenue and Customs Commissioners. The Upper Tribunal (Tax and Chancery Chamber) had answered a number of preliminary issues, concluding that the claim to enforce its EU law right to bad debt relief had not been time-barred as s 39(5) of the Finance Act 1997 fell to be disapplied or construed in a way so as not to affect the exercise of the taxpayer's EU rights, which would otherwise have been time barred by that section. The Revenue appealed and the taxpayer cross-appealed. The Court of Appeal, Civil Division, allowed the appeal in part, finding that the enactment of s 39(5) was not one that had infringed the taxpayer's directly enforceable EU rights to claim bad debt VAT relief in respect of its supplies made prior to 31 March 1989, so had not fallen to be disapplied. The taxpayer's cross-appeal was dismissed as the tribunal had been correct to find that s 80 of the Value Added Tax Act 1994 had had no relevance. 

Employment law – Equal pay. Court of Session: Refusing an appeal by employers in an equal pay claim by employees who had been transferred to arm's length external organisations ('ALEOs') by Glasgow City Council, the court held that an employment tribunal (ET) had erred and the Employment Appeal Tribunal, reversing the ET, was correct to hold that the City Council and ALEOs were associated employers and the employees could therefore compare their pay with that of men still working for the City Council. 

European Union – Environment. The Court of Justice of the European Union ruled, among other things, that art 7(1) of Council Directive (EEC) 75/442 (on waste), as amended, should be interpreted as meaning that a national legislative provision, such as that at issue in the main proceedings, which provided that, in derogation from the rule that no landfills might be authorised except on the sites provided for in the waste management plan required by that article, landfills authorised before that waste management plan entered into force might, after such entry into force, be granted new permits in respect of the plots covered by the authorisation, did not constitute a 'waste management plan' within the meaning of that provision of Directive 2001/42, as amended. 

Criminal law – Appeal. The Court of Appeal, Criminal Division refused a defendant barrister's application for leave to appeal against his conviction of cheating the public revenue in circumstances where the defendant challenged the prosecution's late submission of documentary evidence at trial and contended that the judge's summing up was unbalanced, unfair and defective. Although there was no criticism in the submission of the documentary evidence, there was criticism in the manner of the judge's summing up. Nevertheless, the summing up was not significantly inaccurate and was not in any way unfair as to render the conviction unsafe. 

Medical Practitioner – Disciplinary proceedings. The appellant doctor appealed against the decision of the respondent General Medical Council's Fitness to Practice Panel's (the panel) decision that the appellant had conducted a *** examination in the absence of a chaperone and in an inappropriate manner and that his conduct was sexually motivated. The Administrative Court held that panel's primary findings of fact in relation to the manner in which the *** examination had been performed had been founded upon an assessment of the credibility of the witnesses and had been unassailable. However, taking a broad view and putting all the circumstances into the balance, the panel's determination on the issue of sexual motivation had clearly been wrong and that part of the decision would be quashed. 

European Union – Trade marks. The General Court of the European Union dismissed the action brought by EI du Pont de Nemours and Co (Ei du Pont) against the decision of the Second Board of Appeal of the Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market relating to opposition proceedings between EI du Pont and Mr Enrique Zueco Ruiz concerning the application by the latter for registration of a figurative sign 'ZYTEL' as a Community trade mark. 

Company – Scheme of arrangement. The Chancery Division sanctioned a scheme of arrangement to restructure two companies in the Stemcor steel-trading group. 

European Union – Freedom of movement. The Court of Justice of the European Union made a preliminary ruling concerning the interpretation of arts 49, 63, 65 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union. The request had been made in proceedings between Emerging Markets Series of DFA Investment Trust Company, an investment fund whose registered office was in the United States, and the director of the Bydgoszczy tax authority in Poland, concerning the latter's refusal to recognise and refund an overpayment of flat-rate corporation tax, relating to the years 2005 and 2006, paid in respect of the taxation of dividends paid to the applicant in the main proceedings by companies whose registered office was in Poland.