BAILII: Recent Decisions
Court of Appeal (Criminal Division)
Integral Petroleum SA v SCU-Finanz AG – WLR Daily
Integral Petroleum SA v SCU-Finanz AG [2015] EWCA Civ 144; [2015] WLR (D) 97
‘Where a contract had been signed by only one of a company’s two joint signatories, the question of whether the company was bound by the contract was properly characterised as a question of the company’s capacity, to be governed by the law of the company’s constitution, rather than a question of the formal validity of the contract, to be governed by the law which governed the contract, pursuant to article 11 of Parliament and Council Regulation (EC) No 593/2008.’
WLR Daily, 26th February 2015
Source: www.iclr.co.uk
Recent Statutory Instruments – legislation.gov.uk
SI 2015/406 – The Civil Procedure (Amendment) Rules 2015
SI 2015/404 – The Sham Marriage and Civil Partnership (Scotland and Northern Ireland) (Administrative) Regulations 2015
SI 2015/401 – The Legal Services Act 2007 (The Law Society) (Modification of Functions) Order 2015
SI 2015/399 – The Pressure Equipment (Amendment) Regulations 2015
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Woman who killed son by feeding him methadone jailed for six years – The Guardian
‘A heroin addict has been jailed for six years for killing her two-year-old son by feeding him methadone’
The Guardian, 5th March 2015
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
Lawyers ‘are using threats to stop negative client reviews’ – The Independent
‘Thin-skinned lawyers are abusing their legal standing by threatening defamation action against members of the public who post negative reviews of their services on TripAdvisor-style websites.’
The Independent, 5th March 2015
Source: www.independent.co.uk
Disabled adult wins High Court battle with council over charges for services – Local Government Lawyer
‘A disabled adult has successfully challenged in the High Court aspects of a county council’s policy on charging for adult non-accommodation services.’
Local Government Lawyer, 5th March 2015
Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk
Smoking ban must be enforced in prisons, judge rules – The Guardian
‘The ban on smoking in public places must be enforced in state prisons as well despite warnings that it could provoke widespread unrest in jails across England and Wales, a high court judge has ruled.’
The Guardian, 5th March 2015
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
Police tackle serious crimes with ‘slap on wrist’, MPs warn – BBC News
‘Too many offenders in England and Wales are given “just a slap on the wrist” for serious crimes, MPs have argued.’
BBC News, 6th March 2015
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
Infertility helped your career, NHS tells lawyer – Daily Telegraph
‘A high flying city lawyer, who was rendered infertile after NHS blunders, was told she was due less compensation as children would have hampered her career.’
Daily Telegraph, 6th March 2015
Source: www.telegraph.co.uk
Plans to restrict use of conditional fee agreements in insolvency cases dropped ‘for the time being’ – OUT-LAW.com
‘Successful parties to insolvency cases will not be prevented from recovering conditional fee agreement (CFA) “success” fees and legal insurance premiums from their opponents from April, after the UK government extended a temporary exemption from the general ban “for the time being”.’
OUT-LAW.com, 4th March 2015
Source: www.out-law.com
Blow for MoJ as regulations on judicial review and legal aid ruled unlawful – Local Government Lawyer
‘The Government’s introduction through regulations of a “no permission, no fee” arrangement for making a legally aided application for judicial review was unlawful, the Divisional Court has ruled.’
Local Government Lawyer, 4th March 2015
Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk
EAT denies claimants court fees recovery because union paid them – Litigation Futures
‘A group of employees who successfully appealed a tribunal ruling over the interpretation of their contracts cannot recover court fees because their union paid them, the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) has decided.’
Litigation Futures, 4th March 2015
Source: www.litigationfutures.com
Law firms and medical agencies launch judicial review over whiplash reforms – Litigation Futures
‘A group of personal injury firms and medical reporting agencies has pushed ahead with its plan to issue an application for judicial review against the government, challenging its reforms to medical reporting in whiplash cases.’
Litigtation Futures, 3rd May 2015
Source: www.litigationfutures.com
No duty on solicitors to check credit status of parties, High Court rules – Legal Futures
‘Solicitors are not under a general duty to check the credit status of parties in a commercial transaction unless instructed to, the High Court has ruled.’
Legal Futures, 4th March 2015
Source: www.legalfutures.co.uk
Powers of entry: code of practice – Home Office
‘The code provides guidance and sets out considerations that apply to the exercise of powers of entry including, where appropriate, the need to minimise disruption to business. It will ensure greater consistency in the exercise of powers of entry, and greater clarity for those affected by them, while upholding effective enforcement.’
Home Office, 4th March 2015
Source: www.gov.uk/home-office
Court fee increase imminent as levy clears parliament – Law Society’s Gazette
‘Court fees will increase from next week after the House of Lords last night rubber-stamped the planned levy. A 5% charge will be added to all civil claims valued at more than £10,000, with fees capped at £10,000. According to the statutory instrument, the order comes into force on the following Monday after it is made.’
Law Society’s Gazette, 5th March 2015
Source: www.lawgazette.co.uk
Family court hammers firm in compliance crackdown – Law Society’s Gazette
‘The family court has renewed a stern message to litigants that it will not tolerate non-compliance with court orders. The Honourable Mr Justice Keehan said practitioners must be made aware that poor practices pre-dating new Civil Procedure Rules should no longer be a feature of family litigation.’
Law Society’s Gazette, 4th March 2015
Source: www.lawgazette.co.uk
Children: Public Law Update (March 2015) – Family Law Week
‘John Tughan QC of 4 Paper Buildings reviews recent judgments of particular importance to all practitioners in public children law.’
Family Law Week, 3rd March 2015
Source: www.familylawweek.co.uk
Watchdog bans misleading Amazon Prime ‘free trial’ ad – Daily Telegraph
‘Amazon has been banned from sending an advertisement to customers promoting a “free trial” of its Amazon Prime service after the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) ruled it was misleading.’
Daily Telegraph, 4th March 2015
Source: www.telegraph.co.uk
Brighton activist John Catt loses extremism database case – BBC News
‘Police chiefs have won a court battle against a 90-year-old peace activist fighting to have his personal details removed from an extremism database.’
BBC News, 4th March 2015
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
