Latest Cases

Immigration – Asylum – Human rights – Removal from UK to Bulgaria – Inhuman or degrading treatment. Court of Session: Allowing a reclaiming motion in judicial review proceedings in which a Syrian asylum seeker challenged the Home Secretary's certification that his claim that returning him to Bulgaria would breach his right not to be subjected to inhuman or degrading treatment was clearly unfounded, the court concluded that the Lord Ordinary had erred in refusing the petition and holding that there was insufficient evidence from which a First-tier Tribunal would be entitled to conclude that if the petitioner were returned to Bulgaria there were substantial grounds for believing that there was a real risk that the conditions there would amount to a violation of his rights under art 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights: on the basis of the information before the Lord Ordinary there was information sufficient at least to raise a case to be tried as to whether the enforced return of the petitioner to Bulgaria would violate his art 3 rights, and the court was not persuaded that he must necessarily fail.

Family proceedings – Orders in family proceedings. The father's challenge to 12 findings of fact, which had been made in connection with cross-applications for child arrangements and specific issue orders relating to his children, was unsuccessful. The Family Division held that the recorder had conducted an extremely thorough and detailed evaluation of the evidence, including an allegation of the sexual abuse of one of the children (S), and he had also identified the father's case that S had, in effect, been sent into interviews with a script of lies in order to discredit him. The court held that there was no evidence that the recorder had failed to take account of material evidence or that he had given undue weight to an area of evidence.

Financial Conduct Authority – Decision Notice. On the evidence, there was no reason to cast any doubt on the reasonableness of the Financial Conduct Authority's (the FCA) decision to refuse the applicant company's application for to carry on the consumer credit regulated activities of debt adjusting and debt counselling. Bearing in mind, among other things, the applicant's approach during the course of the application and thereafter, the FCA had been fully justified in concluding that it had been unable to ensure that the applicant had satisfied the Threshold Conditions set out in Sch 6 to the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000. Consequently, the Upper Tribunal (Tax and Chancery Chamber) dismissed the applicant's reference.

Environment – Waste. The screening of debris from sludge prior to storage was not an activity comprised within the exemptions set out in para 3 of s 2 of Ch 5 of Sch 3 to the Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2016, SI 2016/1154. Accordingly, the Court of Appeal, Civil Division, dismissed the claimant company's application for judicial review of the defendant Environment Agency's guidance, stating that screening of sewage sludge without a suitable permit was an offence.

Building contract – Adjudication. An employer who was subject to an immediate obligation to discharge the order of an adjudicator based on the failure of the employer to serve either a payment notice or a pay less notice had to discharge that immediate obligation before he would be entitled to rely on a subsequent decision in a true value adjudication. Accordingly, the Technology and Construction Court disposed of the defendant employers' application to rely on a true value adjudication by way of set off or counterclaim and granted summary judgment for the claimant contractor to enforce an adjudicator's award in the sum of £106,160.84 plus interest.

European Union – Freedom of movement. The provisions of the Agreement between the European Community and its Member States and the Swiss Confederation on the free movement of persons should be interpreted as precluding a tax regime of a member state which, in a situation where a natural person who was a national of a member state and who pursued an economic activity in the territory of the Swiss Confederation transferred his domicile from the member state whose tax regime was at issue to Switzerland, provided for the collection, at the time of that transfer, of the tax payable on unrealised capital gains with respect to shares owned by that national, whereas, if domicile was retained in that member state, the collection of the tax took place only at the time when the capital gains were realised, namely, on a disposal of the shares concerned. The Court of Justice of the European Union so held in a preliminary ruling in proceedings between the applicant and the German tax authority.

Extradition – Fugitive. The appellant had been deliberately absent from his trial, he had waived his right to attend or had chosen not to attend whenever it might be and whatever the consequences might be, and there was no breach of art 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights in his extradition. Accordingly, the Administrative Court dismissed his appeal against orders for his extradition to Poland to serve all but one day of eight months' imprisonment for two offences of assault.

Mental health – Capacity. A woman in her 30s with learning disabilities was found to lack capacity, within the meaning of the Mental Capacity Act 2005, in a number of respects, including in relation to her ability to consent to sexual relations, and concerning her decisions to use social media for the purposes of developing or maintaining connections with others. The Court of Protection, in so ruling, made, or proposed to make, various declarations and interim declarations in line with its findings.

Extradition – Private and family life. The judge's appraisal of the significance of the delay had been wrong and further evidence showed that the impact on the appellant's children would be significantly more severe than he had allowed for. Accordingly, the Administrative Court allowed the appellant's appeal against orders for his extradition to Poland to serve activated suspended sentences of one year and six months for a commercial burglary, and two years' imprisonment for four further commercial burglaries.

Mental health – Capacity. The Court of Protection approved an agreed order put forward by a local authority for A, a young man who had a learning disability with an impairment in adaptive social functioning and executive functioning. Among other things, the court gave guidance on the relevant information that a person needed to be able to understand, retain, use and weigh in relation to online activity.