January 2014 – Page 19 – Current Awareness

EVENT: UCL CLP – Overpaid Tax: Changing the remedies landscape

Posted January 8th, 2014 in Forthcoming events by sally

‘Where a taxpayer has overpaid tax it is now well established that, in principle, the tax can be recovered. However, the boundaries of this recovery are changing dramatically. Judgments from the European court of Justice in tax cases are demanding that remedies are given to taxpayers, even where the domestic system does not provide for them, or in a manner which is outside the domestic system. This lecture will consider the broader impact of these decisions. In particular what issues arise from the circumstances in which taxpayers with an issue at European law have a more powerful claim than those with a purely domestic issue? Where does this leave the domestic system of remedies in tax cases?’

Date: 13th March 2014, 6.00pm

Location: UCL Faculty of Laws, Bentham House, Endsleigh Gardens, London WC1H 0EG

Charge: Free, registration required

More information can be found here.

Coles and others v Hetherton and others – WLR Daily

Posted January 8th, 2014 in damages, economic loss, insurance, law reports, negligence, repairs, road traffic by sally

Coles and others v Hetherton and others [2013] EWCA Civ 1704; [2013] WLR (D) 508

‘Where a vehicle was damaged as a result of negligence and was reasonably repaired, the measure of the claimant’s loss was the diminution in value of the vehicle, usually taken as represented by the reasonable cost of repair. If the claimant’s insurer arranged repair, the reasonableness of the repair charge was to be judged by reference to what a person in the position of the claimant (rather than the insurer) could obtain on the open market and the insurer’s repair costs were recoverable from the tortfeasor up to that amount, together with the reasonable cost of a courtesy car.’

WLR Daily, 20th December 2013

Source: www.iclr.co.uk

Regina (Evans) v Cornwall Council – WLR Daily

Posted January 8th, 2014 in agriculture, judicial review, law reports, local government, planning by sally

Regina (Evans) v Cornwall Council [2013] EWHC 4109 (Admin); [2013] WLR (D) 510

‘The determination of whether prior approval was required for the development of agricultural buildings under the Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) Order 1995 required a summary assessment and the principles relating to applications for planning permission under section 70(2) of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 and section 38(6) of the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004 were not material considerations for that purpose. Furthermore, the National Planning Policy Framework guidance was inapposite in such cases, and section 66(1) of the Planning (Listing Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 and the case law thereunder was of no application.’

WLR Daily, 20th December 2014

Source: www.iclr.co.uk

V‏irgin Atlantic Airways Ltd v Jet Airways (India) Ltd and others (Controller General of Patents and Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills intervening); Zodiac Seats UK Ltd (formerly Contour Aerospace Ltd) v Virgin Atlantic Airways Ltd (Controller General of Patents and Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills intervening) – WLR Daily

Posted January 8th, 2014 in aircraft, human rights, jurisdiction, law reports, patents by sally

V‏irgin Atlantic Airways Ltd v Jet Airways (India) Ltd and others (Controller General of Patents and Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills intervening); Zodiac Seats UK Ltd (formerly Contour Aerospace Ltd) v Virgin Atlantic Airways Ltd (Controller General of Patents and Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills intervening) [2013] EWCA Civ 1713 ; [2013] WLR (D) 511

‘The English Patents Court had no jurisdiction to review or investigate the decision of European Patent Office (EPO) to register a patent on an application under article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, since the United Kingdom’s sovereign power in relation to that issue had been surrendered to the EPO under the European Patent Convention (EPC).’

WLR Daily, 20th December 2013

Source: www.iclr.co.uk

EVENT: UCL – Precarious Professionalism – Some evidence on Market, State and Lawyer Utopias

Posted January 8th, 2014 in Forthcoming events by sally

‘Since the era of Margaret Thatcher, and her much admired Lord Chancellor, Lord Mackay of Clashfern, the legal profession has found itself under increasing scrutiny and pressure. Legal Aid and legal market reform began then but has been significantly accelerated by the creation of the Legal Services Board. Professional power has decreased and the influence of the market increased. State – or rather politician – hostility to lawyers and fiscal retrenchment has led to a reduction in legal aid and concerted attempts to weaken lawyer and court roles in the resolution of disputes. Globalisation and the growth of large law firms has increased the extent to which law is seen as a business rather than a profession. Market reform and the recession have shed a harsher light on the economics and ethics of large law firms.’

Date: 6th March 2014, 6.00pm

Location: UCL Faculty of Laws, Bentham House, Endsleigh Gardens, London WC1H 0EG

Charge: Free, registration required

More information can be found here.

New law will keep separating parents and couples away from court – Ministry of Justice

Posted January 8th, 2014 in dispute resolution, divorce, families, news by sally

‘Separating parents and couples will be helped to avoid stressful court battles under a new law being introduced by the government.’