Latest Cases

Criminal evidence – Sexual offence. The Court of Appeal, Criminal Division, in allowing the defendant's appeal against his conviction for rape, held that the judge had failed to properly consider admitting evidence that he had had consensual sexual intercourse with the complainant on a previous occasion and text messages from a third party should have been excluded from evidence under the general discretion conferred by s 78 of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984. 

European Union – Public procurement. The Court of Justice of the European Union dismissed the action brought by Elitaliana SpA (Elitaliana) seeking to set aside of the order of the General Court of the European Union, by which the General Court had dismissed its action for: (i) the annulment of measures adopted by the Rule of Law Mission in Kosovo (the Mission), established on the basis of Council Joint Action 2008/124/CFSP in the context of the award to another tenderer of the public contract entitled 'EuropeAid/131516/D/SER/XK — Helicopter Support to the Eulex Mission in Kosovo'; and (ii) an order that the Mission should pay compensation for the loss sustained as a result of the failure to award that contract to Elitaliana. 

Criminal law – Appeal by Crown. The Privy Council allowed the prosecution's appeal against the decision of the Court of Appeal of the Cayman Islands, quashing the respondent's conviction for possession of an unlicensed firearm. It held that the Court of Appeal's criticisms of the evidence were not justified, as the trial judge had approached the case correctly and there had been no basis for departing from his verdict. 

Minor – Abduction. The Family Division made a child arrangements order for contact between a father and child in circumstances where the father had withdrawn his application for the child's return to Spain under the 1980 Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction following the mother's attempted suicide caused by her acute anxiety and distress which were directly related to her fears that she and/or the child would be ordered to return to Spain. 

Costs – Interim costs. The Queen's Bench Division made an interim costs order for the claimant following the settling of a personal injury action and in so doing took into account an After the Event insurance premium. 

Passing off – Get-up of goods. The Chancery Division considered claims for passing off and trade mark infringement against the first defendant company, IPAL, which charged large sums to users of its services for submitting renewal applications for trade marks and patents. The court held that both passing off and trade mark infringement were made out, and that the second defendant, who owned IPAL, was jointly liable with it. 

Practice – Pre-trial or post-judgment relief. The Chancery Division dismissed the defendant directors of Lloyds TSB plc's application for summary judgment on a claim brought by the claimant shareholders, alleging breach of fiduciary and tortious duties concerning Lloyds' acquisition of Halifax Bank of Scotland (HBOS) in 2009, by failing to disclose that HBOS had been manipulating its London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR). Where disclosure had not yet taken place, the court could not say with confidence at the present stage that the claimant's case would turn out at trial to be without substance. 

Heritable property – Landlord and tenant – Right of severance of fixtures which had acceded to heritable estate. Court of Session: In a dispute as to the ownership of a chalet, the heritable proprietor of an estate having granted a lease of a portion of the estate, including the solum on which the chalet was subsequently built, and the defender being the assignee of a right of property in the chalet, it being agreed that the chalet had acceded to the heritable property owned by the pursuer by operation of law, the court held that the defender had a right of severance of the chalet and repelled the pursuer's pleas in law seeking declarator that she was the heritable proprietor of it and interdict against the defender from dismantling or removing it. 

Costs – Order for costs. The Chancery Division, allowed the third to sixth defendants' application under CPR 40.12 seeking clarification or amendment of an order for costs made following the trial of a probate action concerning a will. The amount of the claimant's personal liability for the costs of the third to sixth defendants under the order was not limited by reference to the amount of her pecuniary legacy. The court exercised its inherent power under CPR 40BPD 4.5 that the order be amended to add words to the order to ensure any ambiguity in the order was removed. 

Company – Conspiracy. The Chancery Division considered whether there had been an unlawful means conspiracy in circumstances where the director of an insolvent company had conspired to transfer the assets of that company to a company that he controlled. The court held that, in the circumstances, the claimants had failed to establish the loss that they had alleged in the action they had brought for damages. Accordingly the claim failed.