Latest Cases

Family proceedings – Jurisdiction. The Court of Appeal, Civil Division, in dismissing a local authority's appeal against transfer of a public law family case to Hungary, answered questions regarding the jurisdiction of the English court in cases involving foreign children habitually resident in England and who had foreign parents who did not consent to their adoption, the scope of Council Regulation (EC) 2201/2003 (Brussels II Revised) as it applied to both care and placement proceedings and the requirements that had to be met before the court could request a transfer to another member state. 

Arbitration – Adjudication. The Technology and Construction Court considered the amounts owed to the claimant company following a number of adjudications in a construction dispute. The court made rulings as to the sums owed and the amounts payable. 

Estoppel – Proprietary estoppel. The Chancery Division, in dismissing the claimant's case, held that there had been no proprietary estoppel created, despite the money that she had paid to assist the deceased, H, in renovating a house. H had made no promise to leave the house to her and had said nothing to lead her to believe that such a promise had been made. 

European Union – Social security. The Court of Justice of the European Union gave a preliminary ruling, deciding, among other things, that art 60(1), second sentence, of Regulation (EC) No 987/2009 had to be interpreted as meaning that the deeming provision included there could lead to the grant of entitlement to family benefits to a person who did not reside in the member state responsible for paying those benefits, where all the other conditions for the grant of those benefits laid down by national law were met, a matter which was for the referring court to determine. 

Damages – Personal injury. The Queen's Bench Division made an award of damages to the 28 year old claimant, a victim of historic sexual in her teenage years. The award was made up of amongst others, the elements of general damages, damages for mental distress and injury to feelings, aggravated damages an pecuniary loss. 

European Union – Value added tax. The Court of Justice of the European Union gave a preliminary ruling, concerning the interpretation of art 168 of Council Directive (EC) 2006/112. The request had been made in proceedings between 'Sveda' UAB (Sveda) and the State Tax Inspectorate under the Ministry of Finance of Lithuania; concerning a decision refusing deduction of the input VAT paid by Sveda in the context of the creation of a Baltic mythology recreational and discovery path. 

McDougall v HM Advocate 

Bankruptcy – Sequestration – Disposition of heritable property. Court of Session: In an action which concerned the proper construction of s 44(4)(c) of the Conveyancing (Scotland) Act 1924, in which the trustee on a debtor's sequestrated estate challenged dispositions of five heritable properties by the debtor in favour of the defender, the court held that the dispositions the pursuer challenged were voidable and fell to be reduced (with the possible exception of the disposition of a property which might qualify as the debtor's family home). 

Patent – Infringement. The Chancery Division considered the validity of two claims in a patent dispute concerning a technique to prevent the corrosion of rebars used in reinforced concrete. The court held that claim 1 of the patent, which described a method, was valid but not infringed. However, claim 12 of the patent, which described a product suitable for use in the technique, was invalid. 

Company – Winding up. The Court of Appeal, Civil Division, allowed the appellant property developer's appeal against the dismissal of its application for an injunction to restrain the respondent building contractor from presenting a winding-up petition against it. Given that the respondent had, in fact, gone into voluntary liquidation after the hearing, the discretion would be re-exercised by granting a permanent injunction restraining presentation of a petition against the appellant based on interim certificates.