Latest Cases

Family proceedings – Orders in family proceedings. The Family Division held that the mother had failed to establish that the father had acquiesced to having the child removed from the Ukraine to the United Kingdom. She had also failed to established a risk of physical or psychological harm and the child would therefore be returned to the Ukraine. 

Negligence – Causation. The Queen's Bench Division dismissed the claimant's claim for breach of duty against the defendant hospital in respect of a failure to give corticosteroid drugs to the claimant's mother, H, before her delivery by emergency Caesarean section. It found that the failure to give the drugs did not cause or materially contribute to her developing post-natal Respiratory Distress Syndrome (RDS) as a result of which she required mechanical ventilation. 

Account – Indebtedness. The Court of Appeal, Civil Division, dismissed the defendant's appeal against an order giving judgment for the claimant in the sum of £1,215,000. The judge had not fallen into error in holding that transactions between the parties in the course of a trading relationship had not been recorded in a running account, and he had not erred in the way he had approached the burden of proof and in having reached the conclusion to which he had come on that issue. 

European Union – Public procurement. The Court of Justice of the European Union gave a preliminary ruling, deciding that EU law precluded national legislation which made bringing an action for damages in respect of the infringement of a rule of public procurement law subject to a prior finding that the public procurement procedure for the contract in question was unlawful because of the lack of prior publication of a contract notice, where the action for a declaration of unlawfulness was subject to a six-month limitation period which started to run on the day after the date of the award of the public contract in question, irrespective of whether or not the applicant in that action had been in a position to know of the unlawfulness affecting the decision of the awarding authority. 

European Union – Trade marks. The General Court of the European Union dismissed the action brought by Masafi Co. LLC against the decision of the Fourth Board of Appeal of the Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market, concerning opposition proceedings between Hd1 Ltd and Masafi Co. LLC, regarding the application by the later for registration of a figurative sign 'JUICE masafi' as a Community trade mark. 

Patent – Infringement. The Court of Appeal, Civil Division, dismissed the claimant's appeal against revocation of its patent entitled 'Interactive special events video signal navigation system' concerning the ability of a television viewer to interact with his television set so as to cause it to display information. The judge had not taken too broad an approach in his construction of the claim. 

Practice – Summary judgment. The Technology and Construction Court dismissed the claimant's revised claim for summary judgment in respect of an award made in adjudication concerning payment under a construction contract. The claimant could not relate the present revised claim for summary judgment back to an interim payment claim notified in December 2014 to take advantage of the absence of a payment notice and a payless notice from the defendant in January 2015, in order to seek summary judgment on its revised claim. Further, it was not unjust for the fresh proceedings to go to trial and they were not an abuse of process. 

Practice – Summary judgment. The Court of Appeal, Civil Division, dismissed the defendants' appeal against an order by which the judge granted summary judgment against the first defendant in the sum of £366,999 for goods ordered and supplied, but stayed enforcement of the judgment for any sums in excess of £300,000 pending the trial of the first defendant's counterclaim for damages based on the alleged late delivery and defective condition of the goods. 

European Union – Rules on competition. The Court of Justice of the European Union gave a preliminary ruling concerning the interpretation of art 101 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union. The request had been made in proceedings between SIA 'Maxima Latvija' (Maxima Latvija) and the Latvian Competition Council concerning a fine imposed by it on Maxima Latvija for having concluded a series of commercial lease agreements with shopping centres; those agreements containing a clause having an anti-competitive object. 

Mental health – Court of Protection. The Court of Protection dismissed a mother's appeal against a judge's decision declaring that her daughter, who had autistic spectrum disorder, lacked capacity and that it was in her best interest to move to a supported living placement. The judge had been entitled, on the facts, to come to the decisions that he had and, in so doing, had not breached art 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights.