Judge quashes cut in community care provision for man with learning difficulties – Local Government Lawyer

‘A High Court judge has quashed a council’s decision to reduce the community care provision for a 23-year-old man with learning and communication difficulties.’

Full story

Local Government Lawyer, 2nd July 2015

Source: www.localgovernmentlawyer.co.uk

Reynolds v CLFIS (UK) Ltd and others – WLR Daily

Posted May 11th, 2015 in age discrimination, dismissal, law reports, reasons by sally

Reynolds v CLFIS (UK) Ltd and others [2015] EWCA Civ 439; [2015] WLR (D) 197

‘In a “tainted information case”, where the claimant claimed that she had been dismissed on grounds of age and the court’s focus had been on the potential prejudice of only one manager of the employer, not all of those who might have provided information bearing on any discrimination, the correct approach was to treat the conduct of the person supplying the information as separate from that of the person who acted on it, and the alternative “composite” approach was not appropriate to such a case.’

WLR Daily, 30th April 2015

Source: www.iclr.co.uk

Appeal judges condemn district judge who failed to give “any adequate reasons” for ruling – Litigation Futures

Posted March 31st, 2015 in appeals, judges, judiciary, news, reasons, retrials by sally

‘The Court of Appeal has strongly criticised a district judge who failed to produce “any adequate reasons” for reaching his conclusions in an adverse possession case.’

Full story

Litigation Futures, 31st March 2015

Source: www.litigationfutures.com

‘Judge not, that ye be not judged’ : judging judicial decision-making – Lecture by Lord Neuberger

Posted February 6th, 2015 in bias, judgments, judiciary, news, reasons by sally

‘Judge not, that ye be not judged’: judging judicial decision-making (PDF)

Lecture by Lord Neuberger

F A Mann Lecture 2015

Source: www.supremecourt.uk

Regina (Woods and another) v Chief Constable of Merseyside Police – WLR Daily

Regina (Woods and another) v Chief Constable of Merseyside Police [2014] EWHC 2784 (Admin); [2014] WLR (D) 378

‘The Service Confidence Procedure (“SCP”), which was the statutory misconduct regime for police officers, was amenable to judicial review, but in circumstances where reasons for it were subject to a decision that they could not be disclosed due to public interest immunity, then the threshold for judicial interference was very high.’

WLR Daily, 7th August 2014

Source: www.iclr.co.uk

Secretary of State for the Home Department v Mohamed (formerly CC); Same v CF – WLR Daily

Secretary of State for the Home Department v Mohamed (formerly CC); Same v CF; [2014] EWCA Civ 559; [2014] WLR (D) 187

‘Suspected terrorists subject to control orders and terrorism prevention and investigation measures who brought proceedings for abuse of process relating to the manner in which they were removed to the United Kingdom from Somaliland were entitled to see the Secretary of State’s objections to their case for alleged collusion and mistreatment. The Secretary of State was not permitted to confine reasons for rejecting their case on those issues to a closed judgment. The applicants and the public should not be denied all knowledge of the extent to which their factual and/or legal case was accepted or rejected. Such a total denial offended justice and propriety.’

WLR Daily, 2nd May 2014

Source: www.iclr.co.uk

Regina (Lee-Hirons) v Secretary of State for Justice and another – WLR Daily

Posted May 6th, 2014 in appeals, detention, law reports, mental health, prisons, reasons by tracey

Regina (Lee-Hirons) v Secretary of State for Justice and another: [2014] EWCA Civ 514; [2014] WLR (D) 183

‘Where the Secretary of State recalled a person to be detained in hospital under section 42(3) of the Mental Health Act 1983, the Secretary of State was not under a duty at common law nor under article 5.1 of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms to give his reasons for the person’s detention immediately when he was detained and thus such reasons were not required to be given in writing upon detention. However, article 5.2 required those reasons to be adequately and promptly given to him following his detention.’

WLR Daily, 1st May 2014

Source: www.iclr.co.uk

Regina v Achogbuo – WLR Daily

‘An application for permission to appeal against a conviction on grounds of previous incompetent representation by solicitors or counsel should not be made without taking proper steps to inquire whether there was a cogent objective basis for the proposed ground of appeal. It was impermissible to rely alone on the word of the defendant.’

Full story

WLR Daily, 19th March 2014

Source: www.iclr.co.uk

Family Provision of Justices’ Reasons in uncontested Cases – Judiciary of England and Wales

‘Guidance issued jointly by the Justices’ Clerks Society and the Magistrates’ Association with the approval of Mrs Justice Pauffley and the President of the Family Division.’

Full text of guidance

Judiciary of England & Wales, 18th March 2014

Source: www.judiciary.gov.uk

Children separated from their families by courts must know why – Daily Telegraph

‘Children separated from their parents in secret family court judgments must be able to find out the reasons for the court’s decisions when they grow up, the most senior family judge has said. Sir James Munby, the President of the Family Division, said it was “great concern” that the judgments of all family court judges were not routinely transcribed and published.’

Full story

Daily Telegraph, 18th May 2014

Source: www.telegraph.co.uk

No reason for reasons redux – NearlyLegal

Posted February 3rd, 2014 in appeals, homelessness, housing, local government, news, reasons by tracey

‘A rather odd second appeal from a s.204 appeal decision. At issue was whether the Council’s review officer should take into account “the homeless person’s state of knowledge about the Council’s rejection of the person’s reasons for stating he or she did not wish to live in a particular area”. In short, was an absence of a stated reason for a decision a potential issue on review.’

Full story

NearlyLegal, 2nd February 2014

Source: www.nearlylegal.co.uk/blog/

When a decision-maker gives retro-reasons – UK Human Rights Blog

Posted October 28th, 2013 in appeals, housing, judicial review, local government, news, planning, reasons by sally

“This planning judicial review tackles the problem posed by an authority who says one thing in its formal reasons granting planning permission, and another thing in the court proceedings when the grant is challenged.”

Full story

UK Human Rights Blog, 25th October 2013

Source: www.ukhumanrightsblog.com

CPS statement on abortion related case – Crown Prosecution Service

“The Director of Public Prosecutions, Keir Starmer QC said: ‘This was a very difficult and finely balanced decision. It was based on the individual facts of the case; it is not a policy decision. But in light of concerns raised today, I have decided that it would be sensible to put into the public domain the case specific reasons for not prosecuting in much greater detail. Clearly this will involve careful consideration of how much information can be put into the public domain by way of explanation, but my intention is for a fuller statement to made by the CPS in due course. In the mean time, I understand that the Health Secretary has written to the Attorney General asking for clarification and I am happy to assist him in any way.’ ”

Full press release

Crown Prosecution Service, 5th September 2013

Source: www.cps.gov.uk

Two Upper Tribunal decisions – Panopticon

“The Upper Tribunal has handed down two decisions on Iraq and section 27 FOIA, which raise some interesting procedural points – FCO v Information Commissioner and Plowden GIA/2474/2012 and Cabinet Office and Information Commissioner v Muttitt GIA/0957/2012.”

Full story

Panopticon, 2nd July 2013

Source: www.panopticonblog.com

Judicial Review almost never possible where there is a statutory right of appeal – UK Human Rights Blog

Posted June 21st, 2013 in appeals, financial regulation, judicial review, news, reasons, tribunals by tracey

“(on the application of Christopher Wilford) v The Financial Services Authority [2013] EWCA Civ 677. This Court of Appeal judgment further reduces the scope for judicial review of a Decision Notice issued by the Financial Services Authority (‘the FSA’, now the Financial Conduct Authority). Indeed it comes close to excluding judicial review of these Notices. This is because there is a statutory mechanism for challenging Decision Notices. This case sheds light on the very limited role of judicial review where there is such a statutory right.”

Full story

UK Human Rights Blog, 21st June 2013

Source: www.ukhumanrightsblog.com

Laing v The Queen – WLR Daily

Posted May 28th, 2013 in appeals, human rights, law reports, Privy Council, reasons, trials by sally

Laing v The Queen [2013] UKPC 14; [2013] WLR (D) 198

Although the giving of reasons for dismissing an appeal against conviction was an important part of an appellant’s entitlement to a fair hearing of the appeal, if the conviction were otherwise sound it did not have to be quashed simply because of the failure to give reasons.

WLR Daily, 14th May 2013

Source: www.iclr.co.uk

Regina v Radjpaul – WLR Daily

Posted May 3rd, 2013 in appeals, harassment, insanity, law reports, reasons by tracey

Regina v Radjpaul: [2013] EWCA Crim 591;   [2013] WLR (D)  160

“A special verdict of not guilty by reason of insanity was an acquittal for the purposes of imposing a restraining order upon a defendant, pursuant to section 5A of the Protection from Harassment Act 1997.”

WLR Daily, 1st May 2013

Source: www.iclr.co.uk

LAA must give reasons about funding expert assessments in care proceedings – UK Human Rights Blog

Posted May 2nd, 2013 in children, costs, expert witnesses, judicial review, legal aid, news, reasons by sally

“This successful challenge to a decision by the Legal Aid Agency (LAA) arose from an expert assessor in family proceedings – not unnaturally – refusing to begin work unless funding was in place. If the LAA are asked to fund an assessment on behalf of a party with legal aid, then it is common for lawyers to obtain prior authority from the LAA to ensure that the expert will be paid for their work. If not, then the lawyers themselves can be liable for an expert’s costs. In this case, prior authority to pay for the expert assessment had been refused by the LAA thus resulting in further court hearings and delay in the resolution of the case for the children.”

Full story

UK Human Rights Blog, 2nd May 2013

Source: www.ukhumanrightsblog.com

Right or Wrong? The Court of Appeal causes controversy by finding ‘good reasons’s for Claimant to be allowed to depart from its own costs budget – Zenith Chambers

Posted March 7th, 2013 in appeals, budgets, costs, news, reasons by sally

“On the eve of costs budgeting becoming an integral aspect of multi-track case management, the Court of Appeal has caused controversy by reversing Senior Costs Judge Hirst’s tough decision in Henry v News Group Newspapers (SCCO) 28th May 2012).”

Full story (PDF)

Zenith Chambers, 12th February 2013

Source: www.zenithchambers.co.uk

Update on recent Tribunal decisions part 1: the evolving approach to vexatiousness and manifest unreasonableness – Panopticon

Posted November 5th, 2012 in disclosure, freedom of information, investigatory powers, news, reasons by sally

“In recent months, the major information law issues have involved the government’s vetoing disclosure of the Prince Charles ‘black spider’ letters, its response to the draft new EU Data Protection Regulation, a number of Article 8 decisions concerning police and criminal records and changes to RIPA. On this last point, note that as of last Thursday, local authorities require a magistrate’s approval for authorising directed surveillance.”

Full story

Panopticon, 4th November 2012

Source: www.panopticonblog.com