BAILII: Recent Decisions
High Court (Administrative Court)
McGrath v London Borough of Camden [2020] EWHC 369 (Admin) (24 February 2020)
Court (Chancery Division)
Musst Holdings Ltd v Astra Asset Management UK Ltd & Anor [2020] EWHC 337 (Ch) (24 February 2020)
High Court (Commercial Court)
Wallis Trading Inc v Air Tanzania Company Ltd & Anor [2020] EWHC 339 (Comm) (21 February 2020)
Source: www.bailii.org
Cyclist settles case for £30,000 after hitting pedestrian who was looking at phone – The Guardian
‘A cyclist who knocked over a woman who was looking at her mobile phone while crossing a road and was then threatened with financially ruinous legal costs has settled the case.’
The Guardian, 24th February 2020
Source: www.theguardian.com
Patents – Conversant Wireless Licensing v Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd and Others – NIPC Law
‘This was an application by the claimant, Conversant Wireless Licensing SARL for disclosure of the licence agreements and assignments relating to 3G and 4G patents that had been entered by the defendants, Huawei Technologies Co Ltd., ZTE (UK) Limited and their British subsidiaries. Substantially the same application had been made to His Honour Judge Hacon at the case management conference in the action which took place in July 2019. The later application was heard by Mr Justice Birss who delivered judgment in Conversant Wireless Licensing SARL v Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd and others [2020] EWHC 256 (Pat) on 10 Feb 2020. The reference to the CMC in the transcript of Mr Justice Birss’s judgment is [2009] EWHC 1982 (Pat) but I think that must be a misprint for [2019].’
NIPC Law, 22nd February 2020
Source: nipclaw.blogspot.com
Alex Schymyck: Vulnerable Detainees in Prison Illustrate the Need for Consistency as a Ground of Review – UK Constitutional Law Association
‘In R (MR (Pakistan)) v Secretary of State for Justice & Others, the High Court rejected a claim that the inequality in procedural protections available to vulnerable immigration detainees, which depend significantly on the venue of detention, is irrational. The nature of the decision, which fails to properly evaluate the reasons advanced for the difference, highlights two problems caused by the Supreme Court’s refusal to accept consistency as a ground of review in R (Gallaher Group Ltd) v The Competition and Markets Authority. Firstly, the lack of a clear framework for how irrationality should be applied creates a risk that judges accept tangential or irrelevant justifications for inconsistency. Secondly, by keeping consistency within the irrationality framework without any articulation of how separation of powers concerns fluctuate in different contexts, there is a risk of overly deferential decisions. In MR (Pakistan) both of these risks materialised with seriously deleterious consequences for immigration detainees held in prisons.’
UK Constitutional Law Association, 24th February 2020
Source: ukconstitutionallaw.org
Call for English councils to be given powers to regulate Airbnb – The Guardian
‘Local councils in England must be given powers to regulate Airbnb and other short-term letting sites in order to alleviate the “intolerable” pressure they put on the availability of local housing, the Green party MP, Caroline Lucas, has said.’
The Guardian, 21st February 2020
Source: www.theguardian.com
Certainty of delivery of notices – Upper Tribunal on the burden of proof – Nearly Legal
‘A quick note on a Upper Tribunal (LC) appeal concerning whether services charge demands had been delivered. At first instance, the FTT had reached a decision about the reasonableness of the service charge demands, but in respect of the respondent, it held that the charges were not payable by the respondent because she had not received the demands.’
Nearly Legal, 22nd February 2020
Source: nearlylegal.co.uk
Let’s face it: use of automated facial recognition technology by the police – UK Police Law Blog
‘The case of R (Bridges) v Chief Constable of South Wales Police & Information Commissioner [2019] EWHC 2341 (Admin); [2020] 1 WLR 672 is said to have been the first claim brought before a court anywhere on planet earth concerning the use by police of automated facial recognition (“AFR”) technology. There could be nothing wrong with posting scores of police officers with eidetic memories to look out for up to a 800 wanted persons at public gatherings. So why not use a powerful computer, capable of matching 50 faces a second with a database of (under) 800 suspects, to do this job much more cheaply and instantaneously, flagging any matches to a human operator for final assessment? According to the Divisional Court in Bridges, this may, depending on the facts of each particular deployment, be lawful.’
UK Police Law Blog, 21st February 2020
Source: ukpolicelawblog.com
Chichester vicar jailed for ‘this is what God wants’ abuse – BBC News
‘A former vicar who sexually abused a woman and a girl, who he told “it was what God wanted”, has been jailed for eight years.’
BBC News, 21st February 2020
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
“Redesign legal services” to make them more accessible – Legal Futures
‘The way legal services are provided needs to change to recognise that a large portion of the population struggles with the law and needs more help with accessing it, a report from the Legal Services Board (LSB) has urged.’
Legal Futures, 24th February 2020
Source: www.legalfutures.co.uk
UN warns of rise of ‘cybertorture’ to bypass physical ban – The Guardian
‘Psychological torture is being exploited by states to circumvent the more widely understood ban on physically inflicting pain and may open the way to a future of “cybertorture”, the UN torture rapporteur has said.’
The Guardian, 21st February 2020
Source: www.theguardian.com
‘Misconceived’: ECtHR chief hits back at Sumption over rights – Law Society’s Gazette
‘Now is a dangerous time to roll back judicial power, the vice president of the European Court of Human Rights has said in a public rebuff to Lord Sumption’s high profile criticism of ‘law’s expanding empire’.’
Law Society's Gazette, 22nd February 2020
Source: www.lawgazette.co.uk
BAILII: Recent Decisions
Court of Appeal (Civil Division)
K (Forced Marriage: Passport Order) (Rev 2) [2020] EWCA Civ 190 (21 February 2020)
Clark v HM Revenue and Customs [2020] EWCA Civ 204 (21 February 2020)
High Court (Administrative Court)
High Court (Commercial Court)
High Court (Queen’s Bench Division)
Source: www.bailii.org
Another Re W – a successful appeal against refusal for leave to oppose an adoption – Transparency Project
‘In this unusual case, Re W (A child: leave to oppose adoption) [2020] EWCA (Civ) 16, the Court of Appeal has given birth parents leave to oppose an adoption order being made. The child is nearly three years old and has been living with his prospective adopters since he was aged 17 months, in November 2018, after care and placement orders had been made in March of that year. He has never lived with his parents and has not had any contact with them since October 2018.’
Transparency Project, 23rd February 2020
Source: www.transparencyproject.org.uk
UK venues could face legal duty to provide protection from terrorism – The Guardian
‘The owners and operators of businesses and public spaces such as concert halls, shopping centres and parks will be legally bound to protect such venues from terrorism under a new statutory duty proposed by the government.’
The Guardian, 24th February 2020
Source: www.theguardian.com
Samira Ahmed and BBC reach equal pay settlement – Daily Telegraph
‘Samira Ahmed and the BBC have reached a settlement after the presenter won her equal pay claim against the corporation.’
Daily Telegraph, 24th February 2020
Source: www.telegraph.co.uk
You know what I mean – Errors in section 8 notices – Nearly Legal
‘Does an error in a section 8 notice – in this case specifically as to the earliest date on which possession proceedings can begin – invalidate the notice?’
Nearly Legal, 22nd February 2020
Source: nearlylegal.co.uk
High Court grants permission for planning judicial review challenge over alleged Equality Act breach – Local Government Lawyer
‘A High Court judge has granted permission for a planning judicial review challenge in part over an alleged breach of the public sector equality duty, Landmark Chambers has reported.’
Local Government Lawyer, 21st February 2020
Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk
Parties can contract out of fixed costs regime – Litigation Futures
‘Parties can agree to contract out of fixed costs, a regional costs judge has ruled.’
Litigation Futures, 24th February 2020
Source: www.litigationfutures.com
