West End Investments (Cowell Group) Ltd v Birchlea Ltd [2015] EWHC 3381 (Ch); [2015] WLR (D) 499
‘There must be a significant deviation from the vertical plane for the exception in section 2(2) of the Leasehold Reform Act 1967 to apply.’
WLR Daily, 27th November 2015
Source: www.iclr.co.uk
‘Amanda Eilledge explores the availability of public law defences and promissory estoppel in the context of a contract for the sale of land following the decision in Dudley Muslim Association v Dudley MBC [2015] EWCA Civ 1123.’
Hardwicke Chambers, 9th December 2015
Source: www.hardwicke.co.uk
‘David Miranda, the partner of the former Guardian journalist Glenn Greenwald, has launched a fresh appeal challenging the legality of his detention under counter-terrorism powers for nine hours at Heathrow airport in 2013.’
The Guardian, 8th December 2015
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
‘The Court of Appeal has reiterated that the burden of proof for proving whether a marriage is a sham for immigration law purposes rests with the Home Office. The case is Agho v The Secretary of State for the Home Department [2015] EWCA Civ 1198 and it confirms the obiter remarks of former President Blake in the earlier tribunal case of Entry Clearance Officer, Nicosia v Papajorgji [2012] UKUT 00038 (IAC) (FM post: New case law on meaning of genuine and subsisting marriage).’
Free Movement, 9th December 2015
Source: www.freemovement.org.uk
‘In cases involving social housing, English courts have traditionally taken what we might call a “managerial” approach: their starting-point for analysis has not been the tenant or applicant for housing as a rights-holder, but the need of local authorities to distribute their scarce resources effectively. In Burrows v Brent LBC [1996] 1 WLR 1448, for example, where a tenant who was permitted to remain after a possession order was held not to have been impliedly granted a new tenancy, Lord Browne-Wilkinson said that “housing authorities try to conduct their housing functions as humane and reasonable landlords” (at 1455). The tenant might be forgiven for wondering why this should count against him, but clearly the implication is that as ‘humane and reasonable landlords’ local authorities should be left to manage their housing stock with as little interference from the courts as possible. More recently this attitude led to the courts’ extreme reluctance to enable a public sector tenant to rely on article 8 ECHR in possession proceedings. When the Supreme Court finally acceded to pressure from Strasbourg, it nevertheless drew the teeth from the human rights defence by agreeing with the Secretary of State’s submission that “a local authority’s aim in wanting possession should be a ‘given’ ” (Manchester CC v Pinnock [2011] UKSC 6, per Lord Neuberger at [53]), so that “there will be no need, in the overwhelming majority of cases, for the local authority to explain and justify its reasons for seeking a possession order” (Hounslow LBC v Powell [2011] UKSC 8, per Lord Hope at [37]). The local authority is simply assumed to be acting in a way which benefits the general welfare; this assumption is then taken to justify the effect of its actions on individuals in all but the most extreme of cases.’
UK Constitutional Law Association, 9th December 2015
Source: www.ukconstitutionallaw.org
‘Former Radio 1 star Dave Lee Travis has lost a challenge against his conviction for indecent assault.’
The Independent, 8th December 2015
Source: www.independent.co.uk
‘The question of whether a seven-year-old girl, caught up in an international dispute between her estranged lesbian mothers, should be subject to British justice is to be decided by the supreme court.’
The Guardian, 8th December 2015
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
‘Leasehold disputes, like any litigation, are capable of generating significant legal and other professional costs. The position is generally better for freeholders/third party managers than it is for leaseholders in that a well-drafted lease will usually give the landlord/manager a right to recover legal costs, often through a variety of different forms of covenant. These clauses can (and do) “trump” any procedural restrictions on the award of costs, see, e.g. Chaplair, but, of course, it is always a question of construction as to what the clause in question covers.’
Nearly Legal, 5th December 2015
Source: www.nearlylegal.co.uk
‘On 5 December, a Newham Council officer, together with police, seized a table from the regular Saturday street campaign of Focus E15 – the housing rights protest group. The seizure was stated to be under London Local Authorities and Transport for London Act 2003.’
Nearly Legal, 6th December 2015
Source: www.nearlylegal.co.uk
‘Directors of a publicly-listed gas exploration company were not entitled to impose voting restrictions on certain shareholders which had failed to comply with statutory disclosure notices, the UK’s highest court has ruled.’
OUT-LAW.com, 4th December 2015
Source: www.out-law.com
‘Failure to serve a payment or pay less notice does not prevent an employer from disputing his building contractor’s final account in adjudication proceedings, even where the contractor has already obtained an adjudicator’s decision in his favour, the Court of Appeal has ruled.’
OUT-LAW.com, 3rd December 2015
Source: www.out-law.com
‘Investors in the Ingenious Media film partnership schemes have been granted the right to appeal the High Court’s dismissal of their challenge to HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC), which had required up-front payment of disputed tax.’
OUT-LAW.com, 3rd December 2015
Source: www.out-law.com
‘The Court of Appeal today increased the unduly lenient sentence handed to rapist Martin Tom.’
Attorney General’s Office, 3rd December 2015
Source: www.gov.uk/ago
‘The Court of Appeal has made a major strike against the practice of third-party capture by ordering an insurance company that settled personal injury claims directly with the clients of a law firm to pay the solicitors the costs they would have earned.’
Litigation Futures, 3rd December 2015
Source: www.litigationfutures.com
‘The Court of Appeal today imposed an extended sentence of imprisonment against Swansea armed robber Robert Quinn after finding him to be a dangerous offender.’
Attorney General’s Office, 1st December 2015
Source: www.gov.uk/ago
‘Th judge who sentenced a former trader to 14 years in jail for conspiracy to rig Libor blocked the defence from presenting key evidence about a banking industry that routinely flouted rules, the court of appeal has heard.’
The Guardian, 1st December 2015
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
‘The Court of Appeal has unanimously ruled that the government’s proposed residence test for civil legal aid is lawful, overturning a judgment by the High Court last year which found the measure to be discriminatory and unlawful. The test, if implemented, will restrict public funding for legal representation in civil cases to individuals who can prove that they are lawfully resident in the UK and have been so for a 12 month period at some time in the past.’
Legal Voice, 1st December 2015
Source: www.legalvoice.org.uk
‘By stepping in to resolve a dispute over the tribunal’s jurisdiction rather than leave the question to the tribunal, the English courts have in fact reinforced their commitment to support this form of dispute resolution.’
OUT-LAW.com, 1st December 2015
Source: www.out-law.com
Menelaou v Bank of Cyprus plc: [2015] UKSC 66; [2015] WLR (D) 438
‘Where a person was given a property by her parents bought with money from the sale of the family home, made possible by a bank having agreed to release its charges over the family home (securing the parents’ borrowing) to allow it to be sold, in return for receiving a lump sum payment out of the proceeds of sale to reduce the borrowing and a fresh charge over the new property to secure the remaining indebtedness, but— because the person had not been told of the fresh charge and it had been defectively executed— the new charge was void, the bank had an equitable interest in the new property to the extent of the value of the purported charge, which it could enforce by means of subrogation to an unpaid vendor’s lien.’
WLR Daily 4th November 2015
Source: www.iclr.co.uk
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