The right of a natural father without parental responsibility to receive notice of adoption proceedings – No. 5 Chambers

Posted November 9th, 2016 in adoption, news, notification, parental responsibility, parental rights by sally

‘This short article examines the law concerning the right of a natural father without parental responsibility to receive notice of adoption proceedings relating to his child.’

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No. 5 Chambers, 19th September 2016

Source: www.no5.com

Failure to pay correct Court fee leads to strike-out – Park Square Barristers

Posted November 9th, 2016 in courts, fees, news, proportionality, striking out by sally

‘Mr C claimed that he was injured as a result of a fall in a pub in November 2012. Proceedings were issued by Mr C four days before limitation expired in November 2015. The Statement of Value on the Claim Form limited the claim to £10,000 and the relevant court fee of £455 was paid.’

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Park Square Barristers, 17th October 2016

Source: www.parksquarebarristers.co.uk

European Parliament considers plan to let individual Brits opt-in to keep their EU citizenship – The Independent

Posted November 9th, 2016 in amendments, brexit, citizenship, EC law, freedom of movement, news by sally

‘The European Parliament is to consider a plan that would allow British citizens to opt-in and keep their European Union citizenship – and its associated benefits – once the UK leaves the EU.’

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The Independent, 8th November 2016

Source: www.independent.co.uk

Denholm v Stobbs [2016] UKUT 288 (LC) (aka “12 Needham Road”) – Tanfield Chambers

Posted November 9th, 2016 in appeals, leases, news, tribunals by sally

‘In a decision which post-dated Sloane Stanley v Mundy, the Upper Tribunal, arrived at relativity by making a deduction from the Gerald Eve graph on the basis that the graph “might overstate relativities” and accepted, on the material before it, that there was a “slight differential between properties in PCL and properties just outside it”.’

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Tanfield Chambers, 1st November 2016

Source: www.tanfieldchambers.co.uk

Man jailed for harassing Adam Johnson’s victim on Facebook – The Guardian

Posted November 9th, 2016 in anonymity, harassment, news, sentencing, victims by sally

‘The former partner of Adam Johnson’s sister has been jailed for 16 weeks for harassing the ex-England footballer’s child sex victim in a series of Facebook posts. A judge found that Steven Knox, 30, from Sunderland, caused the 15-year-old alarm or distress by posting photos of her online and urging others to share them after Johnson was convicted of sexual activity with her.’

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The Guardian, 8th November 2016

Source: www.guardian.co.uk

Exemplary Damages in the Tort of Deceit – Park Square Barristers

‘On the 1st November 2016 at Manchester County Court Toby Coupe, instructed by Toby Evans (Partner, Keoghs LLP) and Richard Harvey (Senior Claims Handler, Zurich Insurance PLC) to act on behalf of Zurich Insurance PLC (‘Zurich’), obtained an order that the Claimants and the Second Defendant do pay Zurich £5,000 in exemplary damages and £16,844.04 in indemnity costs, such costs to be enforceable to the full extent of the Order pursuant to CPR 44.16 (1), on the basis that the claims had been found to be fundamentally dishonest.’

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Park Square Barristers, 2nd November 2016

Source: www.parksquarebarristers.co.uk

Henriques report: Met Police in the dock as review finds string of ‘significant failings’ in sex abuse inqury – Daily Telegraph

Posted November 9th, 2016 in complaints, inquiries, London, news, police, reports, sexual offences by sally

‘Senior Scotland Yard detectives have been referred to the Independent Police Complaints Commissionafter a damning report into the Met’s handling of Operation Midland found a string of “significant failings”.’

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8th November 2016

Source: www.telegraph.co.uk

Ofsted wrong to penalise Islamic school over gender segregation, court rules – The Guardian

Posted November 9th, 2016 in education, Islam, news, reports, school children, sex discrimination by sally

‘A high court judge has ruled that Ofsted inspectors were wrong to penalise an Islamic faith school because of their “erroneous” view that segregation of boys and girls amounted to unlawful discrimination.’

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The Guardian, 8th November 2016

Source: www.guardian.co.uk

First-time phone-use drivers face points – BBC News

Posted November 9th, 2016 in consultations, fines, news, penalties, road traffic offences, telecommunications by sally

‘Drivers in England, Scotland and Wales caught using a mobile phone for the first time will automatically receive penalty points, under government plans.’

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BBC News, 9th November 2016

Source: www.bbc.co.uk

Ilott v Mitson: A storm in a Teacup? – Zenith Chambers

Posted November 9th, 2016 in appeals, charities, news, wills by sally

‘With Ilott due to be heard in the Supreme Court on 12th December 2016[1], Nicola Phillipson considers the impact the case has had upon claims under the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975 (“the Act”) and wonders whether the importance of the various decisions has in fact been overblown?’

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Zenith Chambers, 31st October 2016

Source: www.zenithchambers.co.uk

Airbnb – a wonderful idea or is it? – Tanfield Chambers

Posted November 9th, 2016 in covenants, hotels, landlord & tenant, leases, mortgages, news, nuisance by sally

‘Airbnb seems like a wonderful idea. You can rent out your flat whenever convenient without having to become a full-time landlord or hotelier. It’s an easy way to earn a little extra cash with the added bonus of a world-wide network of other people’s spare rooms available for that well-deserved weekend break. Airbnb now has 60m users, 640,000 “hosts”, 2m listings and 500,000 stays per night. It’s big!’

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Tanfield Chambers, 22nd October 2016

Source: www.tanfieldchambers.co.uk

Sean Rigg death: police custody sergeant cleared of lying at inquest – The Guardian

Posted November 9th, 2016 in death in custody, inquests, news, perjury, police by sally

‘A Metropolitan police custody sergeant has been cleared of lying at the inquest into the death of Sean Rigg.’

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The Guardian, 8th November 2016

Source: www.guardian.co.uk

Thief has sentencing pushed back so he can celebrate 25th birthday – Daily Telegraph

‘thief who faces jail for driving a stolen motorbike into a policeman has had his sentencing date pushed back by a judge so he can celebrate his 25th birthday.’

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Daily Telegraph, 8th November 2016

Source: www.telegraph.co.uk

66 Years Of The European Convention On Human Rights – RightsInfo

Posted November 8th, 2016 in human rights, legislation, news, treaties by sally

‘Sixty-six years ago today, the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) was signed by the United Kingdom and ten other countries.’

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RightsInfo, 4th November 2016

Source: www.rightsinfo.org

Glaxo Wellcome UK Ltd (trading as Allen & Hanburys) and another v Sandoz Ltd – WLR Daily

Posted November 8th, 2016 in foreign companies, intellectual property, medicines, news by sally

Glaxo Wellcome UK Ltd (trading as Allen & Hanburys) and another v Sandoz Ltd [2016] EWHC 2743 (Ch)

The claimants brought an action against the defendant, alleging that by reason of the get up of the defendant’s pharmaceutical it had carried out acts of passing off. Subsequently, the claimants contended that there was evidence to indicate that three foreign companies in the same group as the defendant had taken an active role in the creation of the design of the product and its packaging. The claimants sought to join those companies as primary and/or joint tortfeasors along with the defendant for passing off. It was common ground that before the court would exercise its discretion to join the companies it had to be satisfied that the proposed pleaded allegations against them disclosed a sufficiently arguable.

WLR Daily, 2nd November 2016

Source: www.iclr.co.uk

Regina v Wilcocks – WLR Daily

Regina v Wilcocks

‘The defendant was charged with murder. He admitted that he had strangled his partner, but denied murder on the ground that he had suffered a loss of control and that he had a personality disorder such as to give rise to a defence of diminished responsibility. He was convicted of murder. He applied for permission to appeal against conviction on the grounds that the trial judge had: (i) been wrong to decide that the burden of proof in relation to diminished responsibilty lay on the defendant under section 2 of the Homicide Act 1957, as amended, notwithstanding article 6 of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms; (ii) misdirected the jury in relation to the words “general capacity for tolerance or self-restraint” in section 54(3) of the Coroners and Justice Act 2009; and (3) failed to give the jury guidance on the meaning of the word “substantially” in section 2(1)(b) of the 1957 Act.’

WLR Daily, 3rd November 2016

Source: www.iclr.co.uk

In re Nortel Networks UK Ltd and related companies – WLR Daily

Posted November 8th, 2016 in administrators, agreements, insolvency, law reports by sally

In re Nortel Networks UK Ltd and related companies [2016] EWHC 2769 (Ch)

‘The administrators of nineteen Europe, Middle East and Africa companies in the N group and the conflict administrator of one of those companies applied for directions enabling a global settlement to be made of the vast majority of disputes that had arisen in relation to the affairs of the group and the distribution of the proceeds of sale of its assets.’

WLR Daily, 31st November 2016

Source: www.iclr.co.uk

Regina v Sardar (Anis Abid) – WLR Daily

Posted November 8th, 2016 in anonymity, appeals, conspiracy, disclosure, evidence, explosives, law reports, murder, witnesses by sally

Regina v Sardar (Anis Abid) [2016] EWCA Crim 1616

‘The defendant was charged with murder, conspiracy to murder and, as an alternative count, conspiracy to cause an explosion. It was the Crown’s case that the defendant had been directly involved in the construction and/or deployment of improvised explosive devices (IEDs), one of which had caused the death of an American soldier near Baghdad in September 2007. The defendant’s case was that he had been acting in lawful and proportionate defence of Sunni communities who were under threat from Shia militia; his fingerprints had been found on two of the bombs, although not the one which had resulted in the fatal explosion. The defendant was convicted of murder and conspiracy to murder; no verdict was sought on the alternative count of conspiracy to cause an explosion. He appealed against conviction on the ground, inter alia, of fresh evidence from two anonymous witnesses (C and D) who were now available to give evidence as to the frequency and quality of attacks by the Shia militia on the Sunni communities and the need for the Sunnis to act in self-defence. C and D were prepared to disclose their identities to the court and, within a strict “confidentiality ring”, to counsel for the Crown, the Crown Prosecution Service lawyer and two senior investigating officers with undertakings that there should be no further disclosure to anyone. However, the Crown was not prepared to give such undertakings. The defendant applied for an order under section 87(3) of the Coroners and Justice Act 2009 (which required the defendant to inform the court and the prosecutor of the identity of the witness) for anonymity measures to be put in place. It was submitted that although the “prosecutor” had to be informed, that did not necessarily envisage disclosure beyond the person of the prosecutor.’

WLR Daily, 18th October 2016

Source: www.iclr.co.uk

The BHS Scandal – the law unwrapped – Employment Blog

Posted November 8th, 2016 in company directors, dividends, news, pensions, reports, select committees by sally

‘The collapse of BHS into administration left 11,000 employees facing an uncertain future and 20,000 current and future pensioners facing substantial cuts to their entitlements. According to the Work and Pensions Select Committee, BHS encapsulates many of its ongoing concerns about the regulatory and cultural framework in which business operates, including the ethics of business behaviour, the governance of private companies, the balance between risk and reward, mergers and acquisitions practices, the governance and regulation of workplace pension schemes, and the sustainability of defined benefit pensions.’

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Employment Blog, 7th November 2016

Source: www.employment11kbw.com

U v U – WLR Daily

Posted November 8th, 2016 in appeals, children, custody, family courts, law reports by sally

U v U

‘The parents of four children, two girls now aged 16 and 14 and two boys aged 12 and 6 years old, were married in Afghanistan in 1999 and came to the United Kingdom in 2000. They were all now British citizens. From 2011 the family experienced growing disagreement between the parents, and in 2012 the father married a second woman in secret which his wife did not know about until 2014. Following a number of incidents that year in which the police had sometimes been involved the father changed the locks to the marital home, the upshot being that the mother went to alternative accommodation with the three eldest children and the youngest boy stayed with the father and his second wife. By September 2014 the relationship between the parents had broken down. Proceedings in the case had been conducted before a High Court judge over some 14 hearings. At the first main fact-finding hearing in early 2015 in respect of child placement arrangements the judge made adverse findings against the mother including that she had caused the three older children emotional harm by her negative comments and outbursts against the father, that none of the mother’s allegations against the father justified ceasing contact between them and their father, and that the judge’s concern was to restore their relationship despite the mother’s resistance to contact between them and the father. The appointment of an expert psychiatrist from a well-known child health clinic was agreed between the parties to make an assessment of the family and also to offer therapy. The expert was able to achieve meetings between the three older children and the father, but unsupervised contact between the youngest child and the mother was not achieved until early 2016. At the latter contact session with the mother the child’s fringe was found to have been cut in a rough and ready manner. Each party blamed the other for the incident. It also emerged that the father had concealed a device on the child which recorded the conversation between the mother and the child. That showed that the mother had asked whether there was a new baby in the father’s house. At the welfare hearing in March 2016 the judge had four full reports from the expert who was also present and had made some recommendations, there was no CAFCASS officer’s report, the judge made further adverse findings against the mother including that she had cut the child’s hair, that she had assaulted the father and was unlikely to change her attitude towards him or that she would promote a positive relationship between the father and the three older children, that none of her allegations against the father had been proved, that at an earlier stage he had found that the three children had had an enjoyable holiday with the father in Barcelona but that they now refused to live with him because of the emotional harm caused by the mother’s attitude, and he concluded that the father was committed to the children, that the second wife was a force for good, that he was minded to order that all the children should live with the father but in the event only the older boy was ordered to reside with the father and the boy’s younger brother, noting that such an arrangement was contrary to the ordinary course for siblings to be in the same household. The mother appealed, contending that the welfare analysis was insufficient, that the older children’s wishes and feelings had not been properly considered and that a guardian should be appointed for their separate representation’

WLR Daily, 20th October 2016

Source: www.iclr.co.uk