Latest Cases

Education – Register of Teachers. Court of Session: Allowing an appeal against a decision of the General Teaching Council for Scotland, refusing the appellant's application to be entered in Register of Teachers, the court held that the respondents had failed properly to apply their rules and principles, and in giving their decision had failed to give comprehensible reasons and accordingly had failed to perform that function in a way that was transparent. 

Trade mark – Infringement. The Chancery Division held that, on the facts, the defendants had infringed the claimants' trade marks and had committed acts of passing off in respect of their supply or sale of 'Betty Boop' merchandise. Whilst there was no law which provided that invented characters had stronger rights than people in respect of the control of reproduction of their image, it seemed to be easier to educate the public to believe that goods relating to an invented character derived from a single official source than it might be for a real person. 

Social security – Benefit. The applicants had, unsuccessfully, sought judicial review of changes in the calculation of housing benefit in respect of rents in the public sector (colloquially known as the 'bedroom tax') which impacted upon households with a disabled occupant. The Court of Appeal, Civil Division, found that, although the Housing Benefit (Amendment) Regulations 2012, SI 2012/2994 (as amended), were discriminatory, that discrimination had been justified. Further, the Secretary of State had not breached his public sector quality duty under s 149 of the Equality Act 2010. 

Employment – Discrimination. The Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) considered an issue of alleged age discrimination with regard to the levels of pension awarded to two civil servants. The EAT held that the employment tribunal had not used the appropriate comparator when establishing whether discrimination had occurred, and hence the case would be remitted to the original tribunal. 

Company – Administration. The issue on appeal was the treatment of rent payable under a lease held by a corporate tenant that entered administration. The judge had held that part of an instalment of rent payable in advance could not be treated as an expense in the context of insolvency. The parties appealed. The Court of Appeal, Civil Division, in allowing the appeal, held that the salvage principle applied. Accordingly, the administrators had to make payments at the rate of the rent for the duration of any period which they retained possession of the demised property for the benefit of the administration. 

Solicitor – Duty. The claimant's predecessor, Abbey, and a borrower instructed the defendant solicitors' firm to act in connection with the purchase of a property. The purchase price was paid to another solicitors' firm and was lost. Abbey issued proceedings against the defendant for breach of trust. The judge concluded that the defendant should be wholly relieved from liability, under s 61 of the Trustee Act 1925. Abbey appealed. The Court of Appeal, Civil Division, in allowing the appeal, held that the defendant's failures had been unreasonable and sufficiently connected with Abbey's loss such that it would not be fair to excuse the defendant from liability. 

Criminal law – Appeal. The Court of Appeal, Criminal Division, dismissed a defendant's appeal against a confiscation order in circumstances where there had been evidence against the defendant that he had been the investor in, and holder of, imported tobacco with the intent to evade excise duty. Accordingly, a confiscation order in the sum of £88,873.81 was upheld against the defendant. 

Education – Nursery schools. Court of Session: Refusing a reclaiming motion in judicial review proceedings by a teaching union challenging the legality of an education authority appointing persons who were not registered teachers as heads of nursery schools, the court held that the Lord Ordinary had not erred in rejecting the petitioners' grounds for review based on statutory illegality, school closure, breach of a collective bargaining agreement, absence of power to make the decision complained of, and disappointment of a legitimate expectation of consultation. 

Practice – Pre-trial or post-judgment relief. When the first claimant failed to comply with an unless order, the case against the defendants was automatically struck out. The claimants applied to the court to have the claim reinstated. The judge refused the application and the claimants appealed. The only basis on which the appeal was pursued was that the automatic strike out provisions had not been triggered as there had been no substantial breach of the unless order. The Queen's Bench Division dismissed the appeal on many bases but particularly in the interests of finality in litigation. 

Child – Care. Following the birth of the child to two mothers who were in a civil partnership, the mothers refused the father contact with the child on the basis that had been the agreement. The father applied for contact arguing that the agreement had been that he would have a part in the life of the child and that he was not merely a sperm donor. The Family Division held that, on the balance of probabilities, it could not be argued that the father had merely agreed to be a sperm donor and there was no good reason why he should not have contact, as that was what was in the child's best interests.