05/03/2014 – Current Awareness

‘Readers of this blog will be familiar with the Government’s announcement, following the conclusion last year of its consultation on private actions in competition law, that it intends to introduce an “opt out” regime for collective competition law actions. In brief, unless they specifically choose to opt out, UK-domiciled consumers and businesses will automatically be included as claimants in collective actions, provided they satisfy the criteria for membership set by the Competition Appeal Tribunal when it certifies the class. One of the particular policy objectives behind this proposal is to empower small businesses and consumers to seek redress in respect of anti-competitive behaviour. The combination of the complexity and cost of seeking such redress is seen currently to form an almost insurmountable hurdle to all but the largest claims.’

Full story

Competition Bulletin from Blackstone Chambers,

Source: www.competitionbulletin.com

Regina (Ali) v Secretary of State for Justice; Regina (Dennis) v Same; Regina (Tunbridge) v Same – WLR Daily

Posted March 5th, 2014 in appeals, compensation, evidence, judicial review, law reports, miscarriage of justice, Supreme Court by sally

Regina (Ali) v Secretary of State for Justice; Regina (Dennis) v Same; Regina (Tunbridge) v Same [2014] EWCA Civ 194; [2014] WLR (D) 103

‘In determining whether an individual, whose conviction had been quashed on the basis of new evidence, qualified for compensation under section 133 of the Criminal Justice Act 1988 on the ground of miscarriage of justice, the Secretary of State for Justice was required to make a decision by applying the statutory test in accordance with Supreme Court guidance to the facts of the particular case. Those facts could include events which postdated the quashing of the conviction in the event that further facts of relevance to the application of the statutory test arose. The Secretary of State might come to his own view, having regard to the terms of the judgment by the Court of Appeal (Criminal Division) quashing the conviction, and provided the decision did not conflict with that judgment. The decision was then amenable to judicial review on conventional grounds of challenge, not merely because the court would have reached a different view. Save in exceptional circumstances, it should not be necessary for the court to engage in a detailed review of the facts.’

WLR Daily, 27th February 2014

Source: www.iclr.co.uk

Summit Navigation Ltd and another v Generali Romania Asigurare Reasigurare SA and another – WLR Daily

Posted March 5th, 2014 in appeals, case management, civil procedure rules, costs, law reports, penalties, stay of proceedings, time limits by sally

Summit Navigation Ltd and another v Generali Romania Asigurare Reasigurare SA and another [2014] EWHC 398 (Comm); [2014] WLR (D) 104

‘All sanctions were not equal nor were they to be treated as equivalent to one another for the purposes of an application for relief from sanctions under CPR r 3.9.’

WLR Daily, 21st February 2014

Source: www.iclr.co.uk

Pullan v Wilson and others – WLR Daily

Posted March 5th, 2014 in fees, law reports, proportionality, remuneration, trusts by sally

Pullan v Wilson and others [2014] EWHC 126 (Ch); [2014] WLR (D) 107

‘An automatic entitlement of a professional trustee to charge his normal hourly rates at least unless those rates had been specified and sanctioned by other trustees and principal beneficiaries before the relevant work was undertaken would deprive a court of equity of any effective control over that trustee’s remuneration.’

WLR Daily, 28th January 2014

Source: www.iclr.co.uk

Anthony White Estates Ltd v National Grid Electricity Transmission plc – WLR Daily

Posted March 5th, 2014 in appeals, compensation, contracts, energy, law reports, news, sale of land, valuation by sally

Anthony White Estates Ltd v National Grid Electricity Transmission plc [2014] EWCA Civ 216; [2014] WLR (D) 108

‘Fair compensation payable to a landowner in respect of the grant of statutory wayleave for an electricity power line, pursuant to paragraphs 6 and 7 of Schedule 4 to the Electricity Act 1989, was to be calculated by reference to the loss in value of the land and the principle of equivalence. Where a landowner had entered into a contract for the sale of land, which was conditional on the termination of an existing contractual wayleave for a power line and the removal of the line, and the Secretary of State had granted a statutory wayleave on the termination of the contractual one, the compensation to which the landowner was entitled was the difference between the contract price for the land in question at the valuation date and the open market value of the land once the statutory wayleave had been granted.’

WLR Daily, 3rd March 2014

Source: www.iclr.co.uk

The Termination of Parental Responsibility: Awaiting the Court of Appeal’s Judgment in the Appeal of CW v SG [2013] EWHC 854 (Fam) – Family Law Week

Posted March 5th, 2014 in appeals, children, family courts, news, parental responsibility by sally

‘Esther Lieu, barrister of Queen Square Chambers in Bristol, explores the circumstances in which parental responsibility may be terminated and considers the effect of s.4(2A) in anticipation of the Court of Appeal’s judgment in the appeal from CW v SG.’

Full story

Family Law Week, 4th March 2014

Source: www.familylawweek.co.uk

Statutory guidance on legal education and training – Legal Services Board

Posted March 5th, 2014 in consultations, legal education, Legal Services Board, news by sally

‘The Legal Services Board (LSB) consulted in September 2013 on proposed statutory guidance for
education and training, in advance of regulators proceeding with detailed plans for implementation
of the Legal Education and Training Review (LETR) which itself was initiated following the LSB
Chairman’s Upjohn Lecture of October 2010.’

Full story

Legal Services Board, 4th March 2014

Source: www.legalservicesboard.org.uk

Reporting Restrictions and the New Transparency – Part 2 – Family Law Week

Posted March 5th, 2014 in anonymity, children, Court of Protection, disclosure, families, family courts, freedom of expression, injunctions, local government, media, news, privacy, reporting restrictions by sally

‘In the second part of her article reviewing reporting restriction orders and the new transparency Mary Lazarus, barrister of 42 Bedford Row, considers those cases involving aggrieved parties and cases with international implications.’

Full story

Family Law Week, 4th March 2014

Source: www.familylawweek.co.uk

Basically, we are all… – NearlyLegal

Posted March 5th, 2014 in appeals, costs, delay, housing, news, proportionality, retrospectivity, solicitors, time limits by sally

‘Associated Electrical Industries Ltd v Alstom UK [2014] EWHC 430 is the latest case to be handed down in the post Jackson/Mitchell dystopian legal world.’

Full story

NearlyLegal, 4th March 2014

Source: www.nearlylegal.co.uk

Registered Community Designs: Magmatic Ltd v PMS International Ltd – NIPC Law

Posted March 5th, 2014 in appeals, intellectual property, interpretation, news, trade marks by sally

‘In Magmatic Ltd v PMS International Ltd [2013] EWHC 1925 (Pat) (11 July 2013) Mr Justice Arnold held that PMS International Ltd (“PMS”) had infringed registered Community design number 43427-0001 (“the RCD”), some of Magmatic Ltd (“Magmatic”)’s design rights and Magmatic’s literary copyright in its safety notice. Magmatic appealed to the Court of Appeal on the grounds that the judge fell into error in finding infringement of the RCD in that he had wrongly interpreted the RCD and improperly excluded from his consideration various aspects of the design of Magimax’s product. In Magmatic Ltd v PMS International Ltd [2014] EWCA Civ 181 (28 Feb 2014) the Court of Appeal (Lords Justices Moses and Kitchin and Lady Justice Black) allowed the appeal.’

Full story

NIPC Law, 4th March 2014

Source: www.nicplaw.blogspot.co.uk

EVENT: The Inner Temple – LIPs, LASPO and the State of Family Justice

Posted March 5th, 2014 in Forthcoming events by sally

‘The theme for the 2014 Lecture Series is “Recent Landmarks in the Law.”

Each lecture counts as 1 qualifying session or 1 hour of CPD.’

Date: 17th March 2014

Location: The Inner Temple

Charge: See website for details

More information can be found here.

COIC tribunals review: progress update – Bar Standards Board

Posted March 5th, 2014 in barristers, disciplinary procedures, inns of court, news, tribunals by sally

‘The Bar Standards Board has today [3 March] published an update on the contract management arrangements relating to COIC/BTAS (Council of the Inns of Court / Bar Tribunals and Adjudication Service) and the progress against the recommendations set out in the Browne report of 2012.’

Full story

Bar Stardards Board, 3rd March 2014

Source: www.barstandardsboard.org.uk

Psychological abuse ‘should be a made crime’ – BBC News

Posted March 5th, 2014 in domestic violence, news, women by sally

‘Psychological abuse should be made a crime in England and Wales in order to save more victims of domestic violence, campaigners have said.’

Full story

BBC News, 5th March 2014

Source: www.bbc.co.uk

Court of appeal to decide whether heavy drinking while pregnant is a crime – The Guardian

Posted March 5th, 2014 in alcohol abuse, appeals, criminal injuries compensation, news, poisoning, pregnancy, prosecutions by sally

‘A pioneering compensation claim on behalf of a child who was severely damaged by her mother’s heavy drinking during pregnancy is to go before the court of appeal.’

Full story

The Guardian, 4th March 2014

Source: www.guardian.co.uk

Northampton man has sentence increased to life for brutal rape – Attorney General’s Office

Posted March 5th, 2014 in appeals, grievous bodily harm, news, rape, sentencing by sally

‘Gintas Burinskas’ sentence becomes one of life imprisonment with a minimum term of 6 years.’

Full story

Attorney General’s Office, 4th March 2014

Source: www.gov.uk/ago

Outcry after judge imprisons child sex victim for 20 hours – Daily Telegraph

Posted March 5th, 2014 in children, detention, news, sexual grooming, sexual offences, witnesses by sally

‘A teenage victim of sexual abuse was locked up in police cells overnight after she refused to give evidence in court against her attacker’

Full story

Daily Telegraph, 5th March 2014

Source: www.telegraph.co.uk

Bringing bankers to book – BBC Law in Action

Posted March 5th, 2014 in banking, fraud, news, prosecutions by sally

‘Why have no senior bankers been prosecuted for their role in the financial crisis? And should companies be able to avoid criminal prosecution by making a deal with a judge about how they work in future? The man who runs the Serious Fraud Office will be in the Law In Action studio to answer those questions and more as the programme returns for a new series.’

Listen

BBC Law in Action, 4th March 2014

Source: www.bbc.co.uk

Court fee plans herald justice for those who can pay – senior judges – Law Society’s Gazette

Posted March 5th, 2014 in civil justice, costs, family courts, fees, judiciary, Ministry of Justice, news by sally

‘Senior judges have savaged government proposals for reforming court fees, warning that they are based on ‘inadequate’ and compromised research, and basic misconceptions about the way the courts operate.’

Full story

Law Society’s Gazette, 4th March 2014

Source: www.lawgazette.co.uk

Vitalija Baliutaviciene could have been ‘greater protected’ – BBC News

Posted March 5th, 2014 in domestic violence, kidnapping, murder, news, sentencing by sally

‘A woman who was kidnapped and killed by her ex-husband “could have been afforded greater protection”, a report is expected to say.’

Full story

BBC News, 5th March 2014

Source: www.bbc.co.uk