Latest Cases

Patent – Medicine. The Chancery Division made declarations as sought by the claimant pharmaceutical companies. It held that the initial marketing authorisation for a drug, Ribomustin, had been obtained in 2005, as contended by the claimants, rather than 2010, as contended by the defendant pharmaceutical companies. As a result, the ten-year period of delay before the claimants could market their own product had commenced in 2005, not 2010. 

Extradition – Extradition order. The Divisional Court dismissed the appellant's appeal against orders for his extradition to France to serve a sentence of five years' imprisonment, but directed that the importation of cash could not be relied on, as it did not meet the test of dual criminality. It held that the same level of particularity was required for conviction and accusation European arrest warrants, and that a factual inaccuracy did not render the warrant invalid. 

Employment – Unfair dismissal. The Employment Appeal Tribunal allowed the employer's appeal against the employment tribunal's decision upholding the employee's claims of unfair and wrongful dismissal where the suggestion that the employer had acted in bad faith in dismissing him had not been put to the employer's witnesses. That procedural error rendered the decision unsafe. The case was remitted to a different tribunal for a rehearing. 

Environment – Protection. The Administrative Court, in dismissing the claimant Seiont, Gwyrfai and Llyfni Anglers' Society's application for judicial review, held that 'damage', as defined in art 2(2) of Parliament and Council Directive (CE) 2004/35 was restricted to a deterioration in the environmental situation and did not include the prevention of an existing, already damaged environmental state from achieving a level which was acceptable in environmental terms or a deceleration in such achievement. 

European Commission – Rules on competition. The General Court of the European Union allowed the application by Deutsche Lufthansa AG (Lufthansa) and its subsidiaries for annulment of Commission Decision C(2010) 7694 final (the contested decision) in which the European Commission had found that those companies and other carriers had participated in a single and continuous infringement of EU competition law by co-ordinating its behaviour as regards the pricing of freight services. The General Court decided that the contested decision was vitiated by a defective statement of reasons which justified its annulment. 

Criminal law – Appeal. The Court of Appeal, Criminal Division, held that the conduct of the defence counsel had not reached a level of incompetence to have called into question the safety of the defendant's conviction or the fairness of the trial. 

European Commission – Rules on competition. The General Court of the European Union allowed the application by Air Canada for annulment of Commission Decision C(2010) 7694 final (the contested decision) in which the European Commission had found that Air Canada and other carriers had participated in a single and continuous infringement of EU competition law by co-ordinating its behaviour as regards the pricing of freight services. The General Court decided that the contested decision was vitiated by a defective statement of reasons which justified its annulment. 

Insurance – Motor insurance. The Privy Council allowed a Bahamian insurance company's appeal against a decision that it was liable for a judgment in favour of the claimant third party, who had been injured in a collision with a bus insured with it. Under the insurance policy and certificate, the bus had not been insured in respect of third party liability to the claimant arising from the negligent driving of the bus because the driver was not a person named as being entitled to drive in the certificate. 

Arbitration – Award. The Commercial Court held that tortious claims, which alleged that the defendants had been involved in the redistribution of a company's ownership through a combination of legal and illegal means, fell within arbitration clauses in the relevant agreements and the second defendant had been properly joined to the proceedings. The claims were remitted to the arbitrators, pursuant to s 67 of the Arbitration Act 1996. 

European Commission – Rules on competition. The General Court of the European Union allowed the application by Cargolux Airlines International SA for annulment of Commission Decision C(2010) 7694 final (the contested decision) in which the European Commission had found that Air Canada and other carriers had participated in a single and continuous infringement of EU competition law by co-ordinating its behaviour as regards the pricing of freight services. The General Court decided that the contested decision was vitiated by a defective statement of reasons which justified its annulment.