Latest Cases

Immigration – Asylum. There had been no error of law in the decision of the First-tier Tribunal (Immigration and Asylum Chamber) (the FTT), allowing the appellant Gambian national's appeal against the respondent Secretary of State's refusal of asylum, and the Upper Tribunal (Immigration and Asylum Chamber) had had no proper basis for overturning its decision and had, itself, been wrong. The Court of Appeal, Civil Division, in allowing the appellant's appeal, held that the appellant's submission, that there had been nothing wrong with the FTT's decision, was unanswerable.

Limitation of action – Court's power to override time limit in personal injury or fatal accident claim. In a clinical negligence claim, although there had been seven months of delay between the expiry of the agreed extension of time for issue of proceedings and the actual date of issue, the third defendant medical practitioner had not been able to identify any prejudice that he had suffered or would suffer in the investigation, preparation or presentation of his defence. Accordingly, the Queen's Bench Division ruled that it was just and equitable, pursuant to s 33 of the Limitation Act 1980, to allow the claimant's claim against the third defendant to proceed.

National Health Service – National Health Service Commissioning Board. The judge had been right to hold that s 115 of the Health and Social Care Act 2012 did not require visible prices fixed in advance for each individual treatment episode. Accordingly, the Court of Appeal, Civil Division, dismissed the claimant's appeal, further holding that the judge had correctly held that the whole population annual payment mechanism under the defendants' contract might lawfully be promulgated and used under the flexible statutory scheme laid down by the Act, which allowed for a variety of variations of prices and specifications.

Practice – Limitation of action. The defendant bank was entitled to summary judgment on part of the claimant's claim, as it had been brought out of time pursuant to the Limitation Act 1980. The Queen's Bench Division held that the limitation period could not be extended until every last particular of breach had been identified. Further, the claimant could not rely on the terms of a standstill agreement that purported to suspend time, in relation to limitation, when claiming in relation to an event that took place after the dates specified in the agreement and did not relate to the events specified in the agreement.

Immigration – Bail. Parliament intended total invalidity to result from a failure by an immigration officer or the First-tier Tribunal (Immigration and Asylum Chamber) to impose the two 'primary' conditions required by para 22(1A) of Sch 2 of the Immigration Act 1971 when granting bail to a detained person. Accordingly, the Court of Appeal, Civil Division, in allowing the Secretary of State's appeal, held that the grant of bail to the respondent was ultra vires, void and a nullity, and there was no bar to the Secretary of State imposing her own conditions by way of a notice of restriction.

Tort – Cause of action. The claimant villagers failed in establishing the defendant companies' liability to them for injuries caused by the Sierra Leone police, which included beatings, robbery and sexual assault, inflicted in response to protest against the defendants' infrastructure project. Accordingly, the Queen's Bench Division held that all the tort claims alleged by the claimants were unsuccessful and dismissed the claims.

Mental Health – Deprivation of liberty. The Family Division extended its inherent jurisdiction to authorise the deprivation of the respondent's liberty pursuant to the conditions of his discharge from a hospital order pursuant to the Mental Health Act 1983. Although the respondent's consent to a deprivation of liberty was not lawful, it was in his interests and in the interests of the general public as a whole, to authorise the extension of the inherent jurisdiction so as to regularise a care plan involving a deprivation of liberty.

Legal aid – Solicitor. The first defendant law firm was liable to repay to the claimant Lord Chancellor the sum of £22,136,001.71 paid to it by way of legal aid for mental health cases based on fraudulent claims for payment in the vast majority of 23,173 identified cases. The Queen's Bench Division further held that the second defendant former director was liable pursuant to a deed of guarantee and indemnity.

Disclosure and inspection of documents – Court documents. Court documents from the claimants' judicial review proceedings, seeking to have declared unlawful legislation that the defendant Secretary of State was proposing to introduce regulating the packaging of tobacco products, were to be disclosed to the applicant non-governmental organisation that promoted tobacco control measures and legislation worldwide, and thereby into the public domain. The Administrative Court had an inherent jurisdiction to order disclosure and it was immaterial that the documents sought might, technically, not all fall within the scope of the CPR.

Land Registration – Rectification of register. The registration of a third party as registered proprietor of a property by the Land Registry giving effect to a court order made in default of appearance and obtained by use of documents which were later held to have been forgeries, did not result in a 'mistake' for the purposes of rectification of the Register under Land Registration Act 2002. The Court of Appeal, Civil Division, in dismissing the claimant's appeal, further held that, as the registration of the court order had not been a mistake, neither had registration of a legal charge been.