‘Accountants, tax planners and advisers who provide advice on how to avoid tax will face tough penalties under new proposals being consulted on by the government, Financial Secretary to the Treasury Jane Ellison announced today.’
HM Revenue and Customs, 17th August 2016
Source: https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/hm-revenue-customs
‘Solicitors could face penalties for not filing stamp duty returns online, under proposed government reforms to the conveyancing process.’
Law Society’s Gazette, 15th August 2016
Source: www.lawgazette.co.uk
‘When a public body makes a mistake in its treatment of one person, can fairness require it to treat other people in the same way – even if that means amplifying the effects of the mistake?’
Competition Bulletin from Blackstone Chambers, 27th July 2016
Source: www.competitionbulletin.com
‘William Griffiths QC is a successful silk but was the unsuccessful defendant in the widely reported case of Hardy v Griffiths [2014]. Mr and Mrs Griffiths had exchanged contracts with the claimant, Mr Hardy, to buy Laughton Manor for £3.6m and paid £150,000 on account of the 10% deposit, the contract incorporating the Standard Conditions of Sale (SCS).’
Hardwicke Chambers, 25th July 2016
Source: www.hardwicke.co.uk
‘Unscrupulous dealers in psychoactive substances face up to 7 years in prison as the trade becomes illegal today (Thursday 26 May).’
Home Office, 26th May 2016
Source: www.gov.uk/home-office
‘A woman who was jailed for falsely retracting a true allegation of rape is to challenge the compensation awarded to her by a tribunal.’
The Guardian, 30th May 2016
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
‘Penal charges applying to people who want to access their retirement savings are to be banned by the City watchdog, the Financial Conduct Authority.’
Daily Telegraph, 26th May 2016
Source: www.telegraph.co.uk
‘In English law there is a presumption in favour of freedom of contract. The penalty rule represents an exception to that principle. A properly drafted liquidated damages clause entitles the claimant to recover the amount stipulated in the clause even if the actual loss is less than the amount payable. The inclusion of the clause is intended to provide certainty, to make the recovery of damages easier and less costly and, from the opposite perspective, to limit liability.’
Littleton Chambers, 4th April 2016
Source: www.littletonchambers.com
‘On 12 February 2016, the Government published the draft Equality Act 2010 (Gender Pay Gap Information) Regulations 2016, which will affect some 8,000 businesses. This means that it finally implemented s.78 of the Equality Act 2010 (“EqA”), the section enabling the Secretary of State to make Regulations concerning equal pay audits. (The gender reporting implemented by these Regulations is not be confused with the compulsory audits ordered by ETs under s. 139A of the EqA). Section 78 was shunted sideways in 2010, then revived following pressure from the Lib Dems in the Coalition and Mind the Pay Gap, the campaign launched by Grazia magazine. And you thought Grazia was all about clothes and celebrities…’
Cloisters, 15th February 2016
Source: www.cloisters.com
‘The High Court has issued a costs penalty to a claimant that included material in expert evidence that it was not meant to and also flooded a preliminary hearing with unnecessary bundles.’
Litigation Futures, 28th January 2016
Source: www.litigationfutures.com
‘The Supreme Court has provided long awaited clarification of the law on penalty clauses and liquidated damages, upholding the “penalty rule” but further limiting its utility in a commercial setting. In the adjoined appeals of Cavendish Square Holding v Talal El Makdessi and ParkingEye Limited v Beavis the Supreme Court created a new authority for consideration of the penalty rule doctrine, termed by Lordships Neuberger and Sumption to be “an ancient, haphazardly constructed edifice which has not weathered well”.’
RPC Built Environment, 6th January 2016
Source: www.rpc.co.uk
‘A motorist with 51 penalty points – more than four times the permitted maximum – on their licence is still allowed on the road, it has been revealed. The driver, based in Oxford, is one of three in the UK with more than 40 points on their licence who have not been disqualified. The information was released by the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) following a Freedom of Information request from the Institute of Advanced Motorists (IAM). It also shows that 3 million of the 45 million licence holders in the UK carry penalty points, of which 13 have accumulated 28 or more.’
Daily Telegraph, 7th January 2015
Source: www.telegraph.co.uk
‘Courts must consider “all the circumstances” before deciding whether it would be unjust to impose costs penalties on claimants who fail to beat offers made under part 36, appeal judges have ruled.’
Litigation Futures, 5th January 2015
Source: www.litigationfutures.com
‘On 4 November 2015 the Supreme Court handed down a judgment in relation to penalty clauses in a contract – Cavendish Square Holding BV v Makdessi [2015] UKSC 67, a judgment of 124 pages before a panel of seven Justices. This was the first time that this Court or the House of Lords had considered such an issue for a century. Some commentators describe this judgment as, in effect, a complete re-writing of the relevant law. Others may call it merely a change, albeit an important change, of emphasis.’
New Square Chambers, 1st December 2015
Source: www.newsquarechambers.co.uk
‘Reports of the decision of the Supreme Court in the joined appeals in Cavendish Square and ParkingEye left me confused because some reckoned the decision represented a narrowing of the application of the penalty doctrine whilst others considered it had expanded the doctrine’s scope. So on a wet weekend afternoon I took hold of a copy of the Judgment – [2015] UKSC 67- and tasked myself to find out. Here is what I found.’
Employment Law Blog, 23rd November 2015
Source: www.employment11kbw.com
‘This week the UK Supreme Court gave a single decision on a pair of wildly different cases. They involved a chip shop owner overstaying in a retail car park and the heavily negotiated sale of a substantial Middle Eastern advertising group. (Cavendish Square v El Makdessi and ParkingEye v Beavis) Why? Because they both concerned the idea of a penalty clause – very roughly, a clause that is unenforceable because it imposes an exorbitant obligation to pay on a party that breaches a contract.’
Technology Law Update, 6th November 2015
Source: www.technology-law-blog.co.uk
‘The government has announced today that from 1 February 2016, all private landlords in England will have to check new tenants have the right to be in the UK before renting out their property.’
Home Office, 20th October 2015
Source: www.gov.uk/home-office
‘Charities that harass or abuse donors should be named and shamed, and in some cases banned from approaching the public for money, a government-commissioned review of fundraising has recommended.’
The Guardian, 23rd September 2015
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
‘Rogue landlords should face harsher consequences, including jail terms, to deter them from taking advantage of “vulnerable” renters, national bodies have said.’
The Independent, 19th September 2015
Source: www.independent.co.uk
‘The Competition and Markets Authority has finalised its guidance on its new powers to approve voluntary redress schemes with effect from 1 October 2015. It explains the circumstances in which the CMA and the concurrent competition regulators may offer up to a 20% discount in the administrative penalty where businesses who have infringed competition law establish schemes to compensate their victims.’
Zenith Chambers, 18th August 2015
Source: www.zenithchambers.co.uk
© Inner Temple Library 2024