Latest Cases

Practice – Pre-trial or post-judgment relief. The claimants alleged that they had been induced, by the first defendant, into entering into a funding arrangement in respect of the purchase of season tickets for matches played by Rangers football club. A master granted summary judgment in favour of the claimants. The Chancery Division, in dismissing W's appeal, held that, on the facts, the master had been entitled to find that the defendant had no real prospect of successfully defending the claim. 

Contract – Construction. The Commercial Court held that a restructuring swap entered into between the parties had been binding; the defendant's contention that it had not been because a condition precedent had not been satisfied would be rejected. 

Sale of goods – Agency. The Commercial Court, in dismissing the claimant's claim to legal title of a McLaren car, held that, on the facts, the third defendant had had power to pass the legal title to the car to third parties, who had been bona fide purchasers of the car without notice of the claimant's equitable ownership of it and they had taken title clear of that interest. 

Insurance – Reinsurance. The case concerned defendant insurance companies who had agreed to reinsure the claimant insurance company for a 50% share in respect of insurance provided by the claimant under a policy. The Court of Appeal, Civil Division, dealt with two preliminary issues concerning the interpretation of the policy and in dismissing the appeal of the claimant upheld an earlier decision. 

European Union – Public procurement. The Court of Justice of the European Union ruled that national legislation, such as that at issue in the main proceedings, which imposed on companies classified as attestation organisations minimum tariffs for certification services offered to undertakings seeking to participate in procedures for the award of public works contracts, constituted a restriction of the freedom of establishment within the meaning of art 49 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union. However, such legislation was suitable for attaining the objective of protecting the recipients of those services. It was for the referring court to determine whether, in the light of, inter alia, the method of calculating the minimum tariffs, particularly in the light of the number of categories of work for which the certificate was drawn up, that national legislation went beyond what was necessary to attain that objective. 

European Union – Environment. The Court of Justice of the European Union made a preliminary ruling concerning the interpretation of art 2(2) of Directive (EC) 2003/4 of the European Parliament and of the Council (on public access to environmental information) and repealing Council Directive (EEC) 90/313. The request had been made in proceedings between, on the one hand, Fish Legal and Mrs Shirley and, on the other, the United Kingdom Information Commissioner and United Utilities Water and other water companies relating to the refusal by those companies of requests made by Fish Legal and Mrs Shirley for access to certain information relating to sewerage and water supply. 

Negligence – Vehicle. The Queen's Bench Division held that the defendant car driver had caused a crash with the claimant motorcyclist as he had failed to take into account the possibility that the claimant might have been proceeding down the outside of slow moving traffic. However, the claimant's excessive speed and failure to keep a proper lookout had contributed to the incident by one third. 

Police – Complaint against police. The police had declined to take action following the claimant's complaint of assault by police. The defendant Independent Police Complaints Commission (the IPCC) rejected his appeal. The claimant sought judicial review of the IPCC's decision on the ground that the decision not to direct statements to be obtained from two witnesses had been unreasonable. The Administrative Court, in dismissing the application, held that the IPCC's decision not to seek witness statements had been one which had been reasonably and fairly open, and had not been irrational. 

Libel and slander – Privilege. The claimant police officers issued libel proceedings against the defendants. The defendants sought summary judgment against the claimants on the basis that they would rely on the defence in Reynolds v Times Newspapers (see [1999] 4 All ER 609). The Queen's Bench Division, in granting summary judgment, held that there was no real prospect of the claimants defeating the Reynolds defence. 

Extradition – Extradition order. The appellant's extradition to Luxembourg was ordered to serve the balance of a sentence of seven years' imprisonment imposed for serious sexual assaults on his half-sister. He appealed on the basis that the failure to provide a lawyer at the initial police interrogation in Luxembourg was a breach of art 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights. The Administrative Court, in dismissing the appeal, held that there had been a violation of art 6 of the Convention. However, the breach had not resulted in a destruction of the very essence of the right to a fair trial or rendered the conviction unsafe.