Latest Cases

Personal Injury: Quantum Case. Asbestos related disease. PSLA of £80,000 with total damages of £642,972.51. The claimant contracted mesothelioma as a result of exposure to asbestos during her course of employment and subsequently died following surgery. 

Immigration – Leave to remain. The Administrative Court partially allowed the claim for judicial review by the claimant victims of trafficking. It held that part of the first defendant Secretary of State's guidance 'Victims of Modern Slavery: Competent Authority Guidance (July 2015)' was unlawful, as it did not allow victims of trafficking or their legal representatives to request discretionary leave to remain on the grounds of agreeing to assist the police with their enquiries. 

Landlord and Tenant – Business premises. The Chancery Division ruled that notices served by a tenant of leasehold office premises, notifying the claimants (together the landlord) of its intention to exercise a contractual break clause in the leases, had been valid. The notices had been validly served at the landlord's stated address in accordance with the leases. That address was an 'abode or place of business' because the landlord had, on the true construction of the leases, nominated it as such, and not because the landlord actually abided there or carried on any business there. The court rejected the tenant's contention that s 23(2) of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1927 was of general application to any sort of notice to be served by a tenant and applied to any claim that a tenant might serve. Section 23 was not intended to relate to matters outside that Act. 

Shipping – Cargo. The Commercial Court dismissed the appellant seller's challenge to the award of an arbitration tribunal in a case concerning alleged deficiencies in the fluidity and mean maximum reflectance of a cargo of coal, by which the seller had been ordered to pay damages and costs to the claimant buyers. The court refused the seller and extension of time to bring its challenge and held that, although there was some force in certain of the seller's points, they did not justify the conclusion that there had been serious irregularity falling within s 68(2)(a) or (c) of the Arbitration Act 1996. 

European Union – Trade marks. The General Court of the European Union dismissed the action brought by Niagara Bottling LLC (Niagara) against the decision of the Fifth Board of Appeal of the European Union Intellectual Property Office, concerning the international registration designating the European Union of the word mark 'NIAGARA', which Niagara sought to register as a European Union trade mark. The General Court upheld the Board's decision that the sign at issue was descriptive of the characteristics of the goods and services in respect of which registration was sought, within the meaning of art 7(1)(c) of Council Regulation (EC) No 207/2009. 

Contract – Sale of Goods – Relevancy and specification of averments. Sheriff Court: In an action in which the pursuers, who purchased 5000 roofing tiles from the defenders in 2003 and 2004, sought damages for breach of contract, averring that the tiles had suffered severe discolouration, and contending that the defenders were in breach of implied terms as to the satisfactory quality of the goods supplied, the court concluded that the pursuers' averments anent pecuniary loss should be allowed to go to proof, however those regarding a manufacturers' guarantee in relation to the tiles were irrelevant, those relating to the tiles' conformity or otherwise with British Standards were lacking in specification, and those anent rejection of the tiles did not disclose a tenable claim for rejection and accordingly should be deleted. 

Local authority – Statutory powers. The Court of Appeal, Civil Division, allowed a local authority's appeal against the dismissal by Upper Tribunal (Immigration and Asylum Chamber) of its application for the respondent to undergo three examinations and assessments related to his judicial review of the authority's age assessment of him, otherwise his application should be struck out or stayed. The judge had erred in distinguishing past authority on the basis that it applied to private, and not public, law proceedings. The examination and assessments sought by the authority had been reasonably necessary to have enabled it to defend the challenge to its age assessment and it had been unreasonable for the respondent to have refused to give his consent. 

Practice – Striking out. The Chancery Division dismissed the defendant banks' application to strike out parts of a claim arising from the extension of a loan facility to a company that managed business parks, which had entered administration. The court allowed in part an application by the claimants to amend the claim, in that it was necessary to refine the proposed amended pleading in order to refer solely to the named individuals who had been employed by the banks at the time of the alleged conspiracy, for whom it was vicariously liable. 

Immigration – Leave to remain. The Administrative Court allowed the claimant's application for interim relief, namely, for an order that the defendant Secretary of State should grant or reinstate his indefinite leave to remain (ILR) in the United Kingdom pending the resolution of his claim for judicial review and anticipated appeal. The removal of the claimant's ILR had been an automatic consequence of the Secretary of State's erroneous decision to deport him. 

Contract – Construction. The Court of Appeal, Civil, Division, allowed the first defendant's appeal against the judge's finding that it had been in breach of an exclusive supply agreement, under which it agreed to purchase from the first claimant all its requirements of certain electric motors and leadframe assemblies identified or covered by it, by purchasing 'Gen 2' motors from another firm. On the principal issue, it held that it had not been open to the judge to have interpreted the terms of the agreement in the way he had.