‘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.’
Daily Telegraph, 8th November 2016
Source: www.telegraph.co.uk
‘Sixty-six years ago today, the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) was signed by the United Kingdom and ten other countries.’
RightsInfo, 4th November 2016
Source: www.rightsinfo.org
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
‘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 [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) [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 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.’
Employment Blog, 7th November 2016
Source: www.employment11kbw.com
‘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
‘The High Court has upheld the registration of Humpty Hill in Oxfordshire as a town or village green (TVG), despite arguments that most of the walking that took place on the land was because it was a public right of way.’
OUT-LAW.com, 7th November 2016
Source: www.out-law.com
‘The judge leading efforts to drag the courts system into the 21st century has reassured sceptical lawyers they will be won over by technological advances.’
Law Society’s Gazette, 7th November 2016
Source: www.lawgazette.co.uk
McGill v Sports and Entertainment Media Group and others [2016] EWCA Civ 1063
‘The claimant, a licensed football agent, brought proceedings against a football player seeking damages for breach of contract, claiming that he had negotiated a transfer deal for the player under an oral contract, but that another agent, having induced the player to breach his contract with the claimant, had made the deal with the new club itself and received the fee of £300,000, thereby depriving the claimant of his fee for the work which he had done. The claim was settled in 2009 with payment of £50,000 to the claimant in full and final settlement. In 2012 the claimant brought an action against the first to fourth defendants, being the agent which had allegedly induced the breach of contract and three individuals associated with it, and the fifth to ninth defendants, being the club to which the player had transferred and four individuals associated with it. The claim was for, inter alia, the torts of inducing a breach of contract, breach of confidence and unlawful means conspiracy. The judge found that all the ingredients of the causes of action for inducement of breach of contract and unlawful means conspiracy were made out apart from causation and loss, and dismissed all the claims.’
WLR Daily, 12th October 2016
Source: www.iclr.co.uk
Thum v Thum [2016] EWHC 2634 (Fam)
‘Having issued a divorce petition in the English courts on 26 October 2015 the wife made no attempt to serve the husband until, on 19 January 2016, she sent the papers to the relevant court office for service out of the jurisdiction. A typographical error contained within the details of the husband’s address caused effective service to be further delayed until 27 February 2016. The husband, having issued his own German divorce petition on 19 January 2016, applied to dismiss or stay the wife’s petition on the ground that she had failed “subsequently [to] take the steps required of her to effect service upon the respondent” in accordance with article 16 of Council Regulation (EC) No 2201/2003 (“Brussels II revised”).’
WLR Daily, 21st October 2016
Source: www.iclr.co.uk
‘The Court of Appeal has allowed a 16-year-old involved in care proceedings to instruct her own solicitor in a case highlighting the extent to which pro bono solicitors are now needed to resolve representation challenges.’
Law Society’s Gazette, 7th November 2016
Source: www.lawgazette.co.uk
‘A woman who stabbed her boyfriend in the chest with a steak knife has been jailed for life for his murder.’
BBC News, 7th November 2016
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
‘The High Court judgment in Miller v Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union last Thursday made it clear that an Act of Parliament is required for a notice under article 50(2) of the Treaty of the European Union. My view is that an appeal is unlikely to be successful, but on any view we must be prepared for that outcome. The Government and Opposition should consider the form of such an Act without delay. So far, there has been little discussion about what form such legislation might take. This post seeks to begin that discussion, suggesting form, content and conditions that neither challenge the result of the 23 June 2016 referendum nor the Government’s stated timelines for giving notice.’
UK Constitutional Law Association, 8th November 2016
Source: www.ukconstitutionallaw.org
‘A gambler does not need to behave dishonestly to be considered to be cheating under British gambling laws, the Court of Appeal in London has said.’
OUT-LAW.com, 7th November 2016
Source: www.out-law.com
‘Four men who were the subject of interim injunctions over suspected child sexual exploitation should have their anonymity protected for life after no action was taken against them, a High Court judge has ruled.’
Local Government Lawyer, 2nd November 2016
Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk
‘The murder of a teacher by one of her pupils during a class at a Leeds school could not have been predicted or pre-empted, an official investigation has found.’
the Guardian, 8th November 2016
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
‘The justice system could be undermined if a ruling that only Parliament can trigger Brexit is overturned, a former lord chief justice has said.’
BBC News, 7th November 2016
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
‘The Competition Appeal Tribunal will today begin hearing a training provider’s claim that the Law Society acted anti-competitively by requiring law firms to buy its own training in order to maintain their Conveyancing Quality Scheme (CQS) accreditation.’
Legal Futures, 8th November 2016
Source: www.legalfutures.co.uk
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