Latest Cases

Contempt of Court – Sentence. The Commercial Court imposed a sentence of 18 months' imprisonment on a defendant who had been found guilty of contempt of court for failing to comply with disclosure provisions in a freezing order. 

European Union – Freedom of movement. The Court of Justice of the European Union gave a preliminary ruling, deciding that art 39 of Council Directive (EC) 2005/85, read in the light of arts 19(2) and 47 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, should be interpreted as not precluding national legislation which did not confer suspensory effect on an appeal brought against a decision, such as the one at issue in the main proceedings, not to further examine a subsequent application for asylum. 

European Union – Customs and excise. In the course of proceedings between the taxpayer company and Greece concerning the refusal by the Director of the Athens Customs Office to refund the taxpayer the registration taxes paid by it following the import of passenger vehicles into Greek territory, the Court of Justice of the European Union gave a preliminary ruling, deciding, among other things, that art 1(3) of Directive (EC) 2008/118 should be interpreted as fulfilling the conditions for producing direct effect allowing individuals to rely on it before a national court in a dispute between them and a member state. 

Bankruptcy – Petition. The Bankruptcy Court granted a debtor's application for a second adjournment to the hearing of a petition for him to be adjudged bankrupt where an immediate bankruptcy order would not, on the balance of probabilities, benefit the general unsecured creditors at the present point in time, and in circumstances where a liquidation plan in Spanish proceedings could result in the debtor being able to meet all creditor claims and where it was held that the petitioners had had an ulterior object in pursuing the petition. 

Contract – Repudiation. The Court of Appeal, Civil Division, allowed a ship charterers' appeal regarding the measure of damages to be assessed following the charterers' repudiatory breach of contract, following which the owners sold the vessel for a higher price than would have been obtained had it been sold at the anticipated expiry of the charterparty. The court held that if a claimant adopted by way of mitigation a measure which arose out of the consequences of the breach and was in the ordinary course of business and such measure benefited the claimant, that benefit was normally to be brought into account in assessing the claimant's loss unless the measure was wholly independent of the relationship of the claimant and defendant. 

Family proceedings – Orders in family proceedings. The Court of Appeal, Civil Division held that the principles applicable to cases where a parent wished to relocate with his or her child within the United Kingdom were the same as those applicable to cases where a parent sought to relocate outside the United Kingdom: namely the welfare of the child was paramount. There was no rule that internal relocation could only be refused in exceptional circumstances, and the proportionality of any interference with a parent's rights under art 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights should be considered as part of the same balancing exercise, and not separately. 

Family proceedings – Orders in family proceedings. The Family Court gave guidance on the allocation of cases of international surrogacy; specifically that all applications for parental orders when the child or children were born outside the UK were to be allocated (not transferred) to be heard by a judge of the High Court. The guidance extended to the role and investigations to be carried out by the parental order reporter; specifically that, in order to complete the parental order report, the child had to be seen with the applicants by the reporter to enable her/him to assess the child's welfare satisfactorily, in all circumstances except if there was judged to be sufficient independent evidence. 

Local authority – Contract. The Commercial Court made rulings on preliminary questions in a dispute concerning the provision of services by the claimant company to the defendant local authority. The court held that, at the time in issue, the claimant had been in breach of the agreement between the parties. The authority had been entitled to terminate the agreement. 

Company – Scheme of arrangement. The Chancery Division allowed an application by the joint special administrators of a company to return client assets to clients pursuant to a distribution plan. The Court decided that the application was a highly convenient method of achieving the desired objective, and worked fairly, equitably and reasonably. 

Family proceedings – Orders in family proceedings. The Court of Appeal, Civil Division held that the principles applicable to cases where a parent wished to relocate with his or her child within the United Kingdom were the same as those applicable to cases where a parent sought to relocate outside the United Kingdom: namely the welfare of the child was paramount. There was no rule that internal relocation could only be refused in exceptional circumstances, and the proportionality of any interference with a parent's rights under art 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights should be considered as part of the same balancing exercise, and not separately.