Legal Aid Fee Cuts To Evidence Work Have Been Declared Unlawful – Rights Info
‘Government attempts to cut legal aid fees for solicitor evidence work have declared unlawful by the high court.’
Rights Info, 3rd August 2018
Source: rightsinfo.org
Month: August 2018
Akhter: legal consequences of an unregistered nikah ceremony – Law and Religion UK
‘In Akhter v Khan [2018] EWFC 54, the couple had had a nikah ceremony in 1998 but had not registered the marriage under civil law. They had four children together. The petitioner, Nasreen Akhter, sought a divorce from Mohammed Shabaz Khan in November 2016. The husband (so called for convenience) defended the divorce on the basis that the parties had not entered a marriage valid according to English law; the wife (ditto) argued that the presumption of marriage arising out of cohabitation and reputation applied so as to validate the marriage. In the alternative, she averred that the marriage was a void marriage within section 11(a)(iii) of the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973. There were two central questions: whether the parties were to be treated as a validly married under English law by operation of a presumption of marriage and, if not, was the marriage a void marriage susceptible to a decree of nullity.’
Law and Religion UK, 3rd August 2018
Source: www.lawandreligionuk.com
Costs and Vexatiousness: Upper Tribunal Updates – Panopticon
‘The procedural exemptions in sections 12 and 14 of FOIA are some of the most commonly used, and most commonly litigated, provisions of the legislation. Unsurprisingly, they have led to a disproportionate degree of appellate involvement. More surprisingly, they continue to do so. Three recent Upper Tribunal decisions add to that body of jurisprudence which ought to be considered by authorities faced with burdensome requests. This post is, as a result, quite burdensome itself.’
Panopticon, 3rd August 2018
Source: panopticonblog.com
Man who tried to gouge baby’s eyes out is jailed – The Guardian
‘A “very dangerous” man who threw a baby out of a window after trying to gouge its eyes out has been jailed for life. Sean Ziemelis, 31, also tried to strangle the baby boy before throwing him from a second-storey window in the early hours of 1 August 2017, Luton crown court heard.’
The Guardian, 3rd August 2018
Source: www.theguardian.com
Teenager jailed for life over British Museum bomb plot – The Guardian
‘An 18-year-old who became one of the youngest women to be convicted of terrorism offences in the UK has been sentenced to life in prison with a minimum of 13 years.’
The Guardian, 3rd August 2018
Source: www.theguardian.com
Solicitor suspended for sending offensive tweets – Legal Futures
‘A senior solicitor who sent offensives tweets about Islam, Catholicism and Judaism – and also retweeted some – has been suspended from practice for 18 months.’
Legal Futures, 6th August 2018
Source: www.legalfutures.co.uk
Defendants ‘gaming system’ to get domestic violence cases dropped – The Guardian
‘Defendants are “gaming the system” in specialist domestic violence courts by intimidating partners into not appearing in the expectation that magistrates will drop charges, a critical report has said.’
The Guardian, 5th August 2018
Source: www.theguardian.com
Allocations and Equality Act – Nearly Legal
‘R(Gullu) v LB Hillingdon [2018] EWHC 1937 (Admin)
This was another challenge to LB Hillingdon’s policy of requiring 10 years residence in borough for admission to the housing register. It follows after TW, SW, and EM, R (On the Application Of) v London Borough Of Hillingdon (2018) EWHC 1791 (our note here) which found that Hillingdon’s policy unjustifiably discriminated against Travellers. But with a very different outcome.’
Nearly Legal, 5th August 2018
Source: nearlylegal.co.uk
Supreme Court considers when court approval is needed to end life-sustaining treatment – Family Law
‘Alex Ruck Keene, barrister at 39 Essex Chambers, examines the Supreme Court’s confirmation in An NHS Trust and others v Y (by his litigation friend, the Official Solicitor) [2018] UKSC 46, [2018] All ER (D) 167 (Jul) that it was not mandatory to seek court approval for withdrawal of clinically assisted nutrition and hydration (CANH) from a patient suffering from a prolonged disorder of consciousness (PDOC) where the patient’s clinical team and family agreed that continued treatment was not in his best interests.’
Family Law, 3rd August 2018
Source: www.familylaw.co.uk
BAILII: Recent Decisions
Court of Appeal (Civil Division)
Henderson v Dorset Healthcare University NHS Foundation Trust [2018] EWCA Civ 1841 (03 August 2018)
High Court (Administrative Court)
High Court (Commercial Court)
O3B Africa Ltd v Interactive E-Solutions JLT & Anor [2018] EWHC 2072 (Comm) (02 August 2018)
High Court (Queen’s Bench Division)
Ashford Borough Council v Stevens & Ors [2018] EWHC 2101 (QB) (03 August 2018)
Simantob v Shavleyan (t/a Yacob’s Gallery) [2018] EWHC 2005 (QB) (03 August 2018)
Clements v Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust [2018] EWHC 2064 (QB) (03 August 2018)
Source: www.bailii.org
Gambling licences to be tied to UK advertising and privacy rules – OUT-LAW.com
‘Gambling providers in Britain could lose the right to operate if they fail to comply with UK advertising rules, privacy regulations or consumer protection law under new licensing requirements set to apply from later this year.’
OUT-LAW.com, 3rd August 2018
Source: www.out-law.com
Council wins challenge to decision that right of way was ‘byway open to all traffic’ – Local Government Lawyer
‘Slough Borough Council has won a High Court challenge to an inspector’s decision that a right of way should be open as a ‘byway open to all traffic’ (BOAT).’
Local Government Lawyer, 6th August 2018
Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk
Warning over online GPs as struck-off doctor discovered using loophole to prescribe ‘unsafe’ drugs – Daily Telegraph
‘The health care regulator is calling for greater powers to protect patients from online GPs after a struck-off doctor was discovered using a loophole to prescribe “unsafe” drugs.’
Daily Telegraph, 6th August 2018
Source: www.telegraph.co.uk
NHS told ‘offer transgender fertility treatment’ or face legal action – BBC News
A watchdog is threatening NHS England with legal action if it does not begin offering fertility treatments to transgender patients as standard.
BBC News, 5th August 2018
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
Slight fall in number of sentences revised up in 2017 after complaints – The Guardian
‘Rapists and killers were among 137 people given tougher penalties after complaints that their original sentences were too lenient last year, official figures for England and Wales show.’
The Guardian, 6th August 2018
Source: www.theguardian.com
BAILII: Recent Decisions
High Court (Administrative Court)
High Court (Chancery Division)
Glenn v Watson & Ors [2018] EWHC 2016 (Ch) (31 July 2018)
High Court (Queen’s Bench Division)
Kimathi & Ors v The Foreign And Commonwealth Office [2018] EWHC 2066 (QB) (02 August 2018)
Source: www.bailii.org
Defamation law does not permit ‘cumulative harm’ claims, rules judge – OUT-LAW.com
‘Statements which, considered in isolation, do not cause or are not likely to cause serious harm to a person’s reputation cannot be aggregated for the purposes of bringing a defamation claim in England and Wales, a High Court judge has ruled.’
OUT-LAW.com, 2nd August 2018
Source: www.out-law.com
No need for court order for withdrawal of nutrition in case of PVS patients – Supreme Court – UK Human Rights Blog
‘NHS Trust v Y (by his litigation friend, the Official Solicitor) and Others, Supreme Court 30 July 2018. The question for the Court was a simple but important one: whether the permission of a court was always required by law before doctors could withdraw feeding from a person in a persistent vegetative state.’
UK Human Rights Blog, 2nd August 2018
Source: ukhumanrightsblog.com
“Same roof” rule excluding compensation for abuse is unlawful – Court of Appeal – UK Human Rights Blog
‘JT v First Tier Tribunal [2018] EWCA Civ 1735. Between 1968 and 1975 the appellant JT was repeatedly assaulted and raped by her stepfather in her family home. Many years later, her assailant was prosecuted for those crimes and convicted on all counts in 2012. As a victim of violent sexual crime, JT applied for compensation under the Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme. Her application was refused on the basis of the “same roof” rule, which stated that an award would not be made in respect of a criminal injury sustained before 1 October 1979.’
UK Human Rights Blog, 31st July 2018
Source: ukhumanrightsblog.com
County council right not to treat man as asylum seeker: High Court – Local Government Lawyer
‘Kent County Council was right not to treat a man as an asylum seeker when he had made fresh representations on his case but the government had yet to decide on these, the High Court has found.’
Local Government Lawyer, 3rd August 2018
Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk
