Latest Cases

Employment – Dismissal. There was no reason to interfere with the Supreme Court of Mauritius's conclusion that the appellant employer had failed to establish that it could not, in good faith, have taken any other course other than dismissal of the respondent employee. Accordingly, the Privy Council dismissed the employer's appeal against the Supreme Court's decision allowing the employee's appeal against the dismissal of his claim that he had been unjustifiably dismissed by the appellant employer.

Trinidad and Tobago – Constitution. Where the appellant Commissioner of Police of Trinidad and Tobago had wrongly interpreted the law as rendering the respondent, the then Superintendent of Police, ineligible to write a qualifying examinatio, with a view to promotion to Senior Superintendent, the Court of Appeal had been right to declare the Commissioner's decision null and void and ultra vires the Police Service Act and the Police Service Regulations 2007. Accordingly, the Privy Council dismissed the Commissioner's appeal.

Practice - Civil litigation - Case management – . A district judge had had jurisdiction to set aside her own judgment in circumstances where the judgment had been against a non-attendant entity which had not been a party to the proceedings prior to the hearing. The Court of Appeal, Civil Division, dismissing the appeal, held that the non-attendant party had not had the opportunity to give notice of its non-attendance and the district judge had had power under CPR 27.11 to set aside her own judgment.

European Union – Civil and commercial matters. Article 1(1) and (2)(a) of Regulation 44/2001 had to be interpreted as meaning that an action, such as that at issue in the main proceedings, concerning an application for dissolution of the property relationships arising out a de facto (unregistered) partnership, came within the concept of 'civil and commercial matters' within the meaning of art 1(1) of that regulation and fell, therefore, within the material scope of that regulation. The Court of Justice of the European Union so held, among other things, in proceedings concerning the issuance of the certificate referred to in art 53 of Regulation (EU) 1215/2012, for the purposes of enforcing a final judgment given against the respondent who had been in an unregistered non-marital partnership with the applicant.

Libel and slander – Defamatory words. The article complained of in a libel action did not mean that the claimant was one of two people found 'guilty of killing a woman while racing their cars'. No reader of the whole article could reasonably draw that conclusion. The Queen's Bench Division so held and, further, ruled on the meaning of the article complained of in respect of the claimant's behaviour in relation to an incident which had occurred in 2015.

Industrial relations – Trade union membership and activities. Following the rejection of its pay offer to its union member employees, the employer wrote to each employee individually with the terms of its offer. The Court of Appeal, Civil Division, held that that did not fall within the 'prohibited result' provisions of s 145B of the Trade Union and Labour Relations Consolidation Act 1992.

Company – Control. The proposed arrangements regulating the operation of the appellant as a professional company under the Bermuda Bar Act 1974 were not contrary to s 114 of, and Pt I of Sch 3 to, the Companies Act 1981 (the 1981 Act), which required local companies which carried on business in Bermuda to be controlled by Bermudians. Accordingly, the Privy Council, in advising Her Majesty that the appeal should be allowed, held that the respondent Bermuda Bar Council had fallen into error in refusing to grant a certificate of recognition as a professional company.

Practice – Summary judgment. The claimant was entitled to summary judgment in its claims for a declaration that there have been events of default under a mezzanine facility agreement (MFA) and a supplemental loan agreement (SLA) under which the claimant lent certain sums to the defendant, for the defendant to pay outstanding interest under the MFA, and for the defendant pay the principal and interest outstanding under the SLA. The Commercial Court further refused the defendant's applications for a stay of the proceedings or enforcement of summary judgment in the claimant's favour pending the outcome of an ICC arbitration.

Trade mark – Infringement. The claimant cosmetic companies' claim based upon trade mark infringement and passing off failed. The Chancery Division held that, among other things, there had been no likelihood of confusion and the case for infringement failed. Since there had been no likelihood of confusion, there were no considerations that were relevant under the law of passing off that would lead the court to find that the use of the sign had resulted in a misrepresentation to the average consumer, and hence the claim in passing off failed.

Claim form - Service - Defective service – . The respondent and its solicitors had not been under a duty to notify the appellants that their purported service of the claim had been ineffective. The Court of Appeal, Civil Division, held that the judge had been right to find that a Master had erred in finding that the respondent's solicitor's conduct in failing to inform the appellants that its service had been ineffective had outweighed the appellants' mistake .