Latest Cases

Sentencing – Order for lifelong restriction (OLR). High Court of Justiciary: Allowing appeals by two prisoners against OLRs imposed on them in respect of an assault on another prisoner, the court held that there was no sufficient link between the offence and the risk the appellants posed, the risk criteria were not satisfied and the statutory test for the imposition of an OLR was not met: it accordingly quashed the OLRs and substituted extended sentences. 

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. 

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. 

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. 

Mortgage – Sale. The Chancery Division dismissed an application for an order to stop the sale of a property pursuant to a contract that was entered into as a result of an auction. There was no arguable basis upon which the sale of the property which was due to take place should be interfered with. 

Sale of goods – Motor car. The Commercial Court considered, as a preliminary issue, challenges to the ownership of the chassis and spare parts of an extremely rare Ferrari car. It dismissed the objections raised by the first and second defendants, and held that, at the relevant time, the fourth defendant had had title to the car, including the spare parts. 

Order – Amendment. The Technology and Construction Court, in a case concerning the interpretation of a complex contract, dismissed the defendant's application to amend an order that there be a statement of agreed facts by adding a requirement that it should include background matters relevant to the dispute and a chronology of factual matrix documentation. The amendment sought was unnecessary and unduly prescriptive as well as going beyond what was contemplated by the order that there be a statement of agreed facts. 

Practice – Procedure. The Chancery Division dismissed the defendants' application for summary judgment on a claim by investors of a Jersey Trust, which alleged that the defendants were liable for the loss of the entire value of their investment due to a breach of duty to take all reasonable care to ensure that facts stated in an information memorandum (IM), given to potential investors, were true and accurate. Even if the court was required to apply settled law and identify the direct consequences of the valuation being inaccurate, the claimants had real prospects of establishing that the loss they had suffered on their investment was attributable to the alleged inadequacies in the IM and, accordingly, the case should go to trial. 

Veterinary surgeon – Discipline. The Administrative Court allowed the claimant's claim for judicial review of the defendant Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons' decision to close his complaint against a veterinary nurse at stage three of its investigation and case examination stage. The claimant's complaint succeeded on the basis of the points identified by the judge in granting permission. 

European Union – Consumer protection. The Court of Justice of the European Union gave a preliminary ruling, deciding that arts 6 and 7 of the Directive (EEC) 93/13 should be interpreted as meaning that they precluded a national transitional provision, such as that at issue in the main proceedings, which, as regards mortgage enforcement proceedings which had been instituted before the date of entry into force of the law of which that provision formed part and which had not been concluded at that date, imposed a time-limit on consumers calculated from the day following the publication of that law, to object to enforcement on the basis of the alleged unfairness of contractual terms.