Civil litigation
BXB v Watch Tower and Bible Tract Society of Pennsylvania — [2021] 4 WLR 42
VICARIOUS LIABILITY — Jehovah’s witness elder — Sexual abuse — Elder raping member of congregation at his home — Whether defendant governing body and trustees of congregation vicariously liable for rape when elder not performing religious activity at time
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Civil litigation
Seabrook v Adam — [2021] WLR(D) 170
PRACTICE — Settlement of action — Offer to settle — Claimant bringing personal injury claim under two heads of loss — Defendant admitting liability but denying causation — Claimant making offer to settle claim for 90% of damages — Offer letter referring only to “liability” and not to “causation” — Defendant refusing to accept offer — Judge awarding 100% of damages for only one head of claimed loss — Whether claimant having bettered Part 36 offer — Whether claimant’s offer to be construed as also relating to “causation” — Whether offer addressing entirety of claim — CPR r 36.5(1)(d)
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Civil litigation
Stephenson Harwood LLP v Medien Patentverwaltung AG — [2021] 1 WLR 1775
PRACTICE — Stakeholder application — Submission to jurisdiction — Solicitors making stakeholder application seeking directions as to where they should pay sum of money — Respondent to application failing to dispute court’s jurisdiction within 14 days of filing acknowledgment of service — Whether to be treated as having accepted court’s jurisdiction to try competing claims to money — CPR Pts 11, 86
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Civil litigation
Dass v Marchand (Practice Note) — [2021] 1 WLR 1788
PRIVY COUNCIL — Practice — Findings of fact — Practice of Board not to go behind concurrent findings of two lower courts — Rationale for such practice
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Civil litigation
Meekey v Comr of Police of the Metropolis — [2021] 2 WLR 648
LIMITATION OF ACTION — Conversion — Extinguishment of title — Police commissioner refusing applicant’s request for return of seized firearms — Applicant applying to court for return of firearms more than six years later — Whether application precluded by expiry of limitation period for bringing claim for conversion of chattels — Whether applicant’s title to firearms extinguished by limitation statute — Whether conversion occurring — Police (Property) Act 1897 (60 & 61 Vict, c 30), s 1(1) — Firearms Act 1968 (c 27), s 21(1) — Limitation Act 1980 (c 58), s 3
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Commercial
Airhelp Ltd v Scandinavian Airlines System Denmark – Norway – Sweden — [2021] WLR(D) 171
AIRCRAFT — Carriage by air — Compensation and assistance to passengers — Flight cancelled due to pilots’ strike — Strike lawfully initiated by trade unions after giving notice to air carrier — Whether strike action “extraordinary circumstance” exempting carrier from obligation to pay compensation — Parliament and Council Regulation (EC) No 261/2004, art 5(3)
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Commercial
Argentum Exploration Ltd v The Silver — [2021] 2 WLR 613
INTERNATIONAL LAW — State immunity — Statutory exception — Ship sinking while carrying cargo belonging to foreign government — Claimant salvaging cargo and bringing action in rem against cargo seeking salvage reward — Whether government immune as respects such action — Whether statutory exception to immunity applying by reason of cargo and ship being “in use … for commercial purposes” when cause of action arising — State Immunity Act 1978 (c 33), s 10(4)(a)
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Commercial
Argos Pereira Espana SL v Athenian Marine Ltd — [2021] WLR(D) 164
ARBITRATION — Agreement — Breach — Derived rights obligation — Owner agreeing to carry cargo pursuant to bills of lading containing London arbitration clause — Cargo insurer indemnifying consignee following damage to cargo — Insurer by subrogation bringing proceedings in Spain against owner’s manager mistakenly believing it to be carrier — Manager successfully challenging court’s jurisdiction and awarded costs — Owner pursuing arbitration claim to recover manager’s costs — Whether insurer as assignee of cargo claims under bills of lading liable to pay equitable compensation to owner for breach of equitable obligation to arbitrate claims — Whether principle of transferred loss applying to enable owner to recover the loss suffered by manager
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Crime
R (Purvis) v Director of Public Prosecutions — [2021] 4 WLR 41
CRIME — Practice — Prosecution of offences — Decision not to prosecute police officer for offences of perjury and attempting to pervert course of justice — Whether decision lawful — Whether correct legal tests applied — Whether evidential test met for prosecution for attempting to pervert course of justice — Perjury Act 1911 (1 & 2 Geo 5, c 6),s 1
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Crime
R v Baldwin (Kara) — [2021] WLR(D) 173
CRIME — Sentence — Vulnerable defendant — Whether immediate sentence of detention imposed on vulnerable defendant wrong in principle or manifestly excessive — Guidance on steps to be taken by counsel where likely successful appeal by vulnerable defendant likely to lead to immediate release from custody
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Crime
R v Scothern — [2021] 1 WLR 1735
CRIME — Sentence — Detention and training order — Defendant under 18 when committing terrorist offence but over 18 when sentenced — Principle that starting point to be sentence defendant would have received if sentenced before turning 18 — Maximum sentence for those aged under 18 detention and training order of two years — Whether detention and training orders subject to provisions governing early release of prisoners serving fixed-term sentences for terrorist offences — Whether early release provisions to be taken into account when determining sentence defendant would have received if sentenced before turning 18 — Powers of Criminal Courts (Sentencing) Act 2000 (c 6), ss 101, 102 — Criminal Justice Act 2003 (c 44), s 247A
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Crime
Minister for Justice and Equality v JR — [2021] WLR(D) 166
EXTRADITION — European arrest warrant — Validity — Court in third state convicting and sentencing EU national for crime committed there — Member state of nationality recognising and enforcing third state’s judgment under bilateral agreement — Requested person absconding to another member state — European arrest warrant issued for execution of remainder of sentence — Whether judgment of third state “enforceable judgment” — Whether executing state should refuse to execute warrant on ground it related to offence committed “outside … issuing member state” — Council Framework Decision 2002/584/JHA, arts 1(1), 4(7)(b), 8(1)(c)
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Employment
Asda Stores Ltd v Brierley — [2021] WLR(D) 176
DISCRIMINATION — Sex — Equal pay — Female employees in retail stores claiming comparison with male employees in distribution depots — Claims based on work of equal value — Whether common terms applying at stores and depots — Whether distribution employees would be employed on substantially same terms if employed in same role at retail sites — Equal Pay Act 1970 (c 41), s 1(6) — Equality Act 2010 (c 15), s 79(4)
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Employment
Royal Mencap Society v Tomlinson-Blake — [2021] WLR(D) 167
EMPLOYMENT — Wages — National minimum wage — Worker permitted to sleep during night shift duty — Whether entirety of sleep-in hours counting as hours worked for purpose of calculating national minimum wage — National Minimum Wage Regulations 1999 (SI 1999/584), regs 15(1)(1A), 16(1)(1A) — National Minimum Wage Regulations 2015 (SI 2015/621), regs 30, 32
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Employment
Academia de Studii Economice din Bucureops ti v Organismul Intermediar pentru Programul Operaţional Capital Uman – Ministerul Educaţiei Naţionale — [2021] WLR(D) 165
EMPLOYMENT — Working time provisions — Working time — University receiving European grant funding from Romanian authorities for implementation of human resources development programme — Experts hired by university under number of cumulative employment contracts — Romanian Education Ministry disallowing salary costs for employees because maximum number of permitted working hours of employees exceeded limit of 13 hours per day — Whether minimum daily rest period of 11 consecutive hours per 24-hour period applying to contracts taken together or to each one taken separately — Parliament and Council Directive 2003/88/EC, arts 2(1), 3
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European Union
M v Staatssecretaris van Justitie en Veiligheid — [2021] 4 WLR 40
EUROPEAN UNION — Immigration — Illegal stayer — Third-country national applicants granted refugee status in original member states — Applicants moving to Netherlands and staying illegally — Netherlands’ authorities ordering applicants to return immediately to original member states without issuing return decisions — Applicants detained for purpose of transfer pursuant to national law — Whether EU law precluding national legislation — Parliament and Council Directive 2008/115/EC, arts 3(3), 6(1), (2)
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European Union
Wilson v Beko plc — [2021] 1 WLR 1711
EUROPEAN UNION — Consumer protection — Liability for defective products — Claim for damages brought after fire caused by defective electrical goods — Strict liability claim for damage caused by defective product time-barred pursuant to limitation period required by European Union Directive — Claimants instead bringing strict liability claim for non-compliance with safety regulations — Whether member state entitled to provide for wider system of strict product liability than provided for in Directive — Whether European Union law precluding claimants from bringing claim under safety regulations — Consumer Protection Act 1987 (c 43), ss 2, 41(1) — Council Directive 85/374/EEC, arts 11, 13
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Family
AA v AHM (Practice Note) — [2021] WLR(D) 177
PRACTICE — Family proceedings — Financial provision after overseas divorce — Allocation of applications for permission to proceed — Guidance on allocation to judge of appropriate level — FPR r 8.26(a) — Family Court (Composition and Distribution of Business) Rules 2014 (SI 2014/840), r 15, Sch 1, para 4(a)
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Family
Horohoe v Horohoe — [2021] 4 WLR 43
MARRIAGE — Financial provision — Post-nuptial agreement — Agreement concluded between parties on division of assets upon separation — Agreement not made into order or formal deed but implemented over period of years — Wife applying for ancillary relief upon later divorce — Whether agreement to be strictly adhered to — Whether agreement to be altered for genuine error — How court's discretion to be exercised
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Family
Atapour v Rezai-Namaghi — [2021] WLR(D) 175
MARRIAGE — Financial provision — Enforcement — Final order for financial provision purportedly made in divorce proceedings — Whether order a nullity in absence of decree nisi — Whether decree nisi pronounced — Whether certificate of entitlement to decree sufficient — Matrimonial Causes Act 1973 (c 18), s 23
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IP and Media
Vestel Elektronik Sanayi Ve Ticaret AS v Access Advance LLC — [2021] WLR(D) 178
PATENT — Licence — Standard essential patents — Standard-setting organisation requiring owners of patents declared to be essential to implementation of standards to undertake to grant licences to third parties on fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory terms — Claimant needing licence to sell televisions in United Kingdom — Company representing patentee incorporated in United States of America — Claimant seeking declaration that licence not offered on fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory terms — Claimant seeking permission to serve claim out of jurisdiction on basis claim relating wholly or principally to property within the jurisdiction — Determination of appropriate forum to settle terms of licence — Whether court’s declaratory jurisdiction engaged where “claim” not based on existence of legal right — Whether “useful purpose” only criterion needed to engage declaratory jurisdiction — CPR PD 6B, para 3.1(11)
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Land law
Ludgate House Ltd v Ricketts (Valuation Officer) — [2021] 1 WLR 1750
RATING — Non-domestic rates — Rateable occupation — Office building occupied by property guardians as residents pursuant to licence — Licence granting guardians no right to exclusive occupation of any part of building — Each guardian occupying specified individual room with use of shared facilities and communal areas — Whether building single hereditament — Whether guardians in separate rateable occupation of individual rooms
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Public law
RSBS Developments Ltd v Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government — [2021] PTSR 632
PLANNING — Development — Permitted development — Grant of prior approval for permitted development involving change of use of building from offices to residential flats — Claimant obtaining planning permission for first-floor extension subject to conditions including restriction to office use — Development carried out in breach of planning permission and premises converted to residential use — Claimant later demolishing unauthorised development — Whether breach of planning control — Whether permitted development rights lost by reason of subsequent unlawful building operations in connection with existing building — Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) (England) Order 2015 (SI 2015/596), arts 2(1), 3(5), Sch 2, Pt 3, Class O
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Public law
R (DVP) v Secretary of State for the Home Department — [2021] WLR(D) 174
SOLICITOR — Duty — Breach — Solicitors’ application for urgent interim relief in judicial review proceedings failing to comply with procedural requirements and Administrative Court Guide — Solicitors’ conduct in abusing urgent application procedure referred for consideration under court’s inherent jurisdiction — Whether solicitors in breach of professional obligations and duty of candour — Guidance on standard of professional behaviour required of those making urgent applications to court
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Public law
R (Blundell) v Secretary of State for Work and Pensions — [2021] WLR(D) 172
SOCIAL SECURITY — Welfare benefits — Universal credit — Regulations giving Secretary of State discretion to make deductions from universal credit standard allowance to pay court fines — Deduction policy setting arithmetically fixed deduction rate — Whether policy imposing unlawful fetter on statutory discretion — Whether discriminating against disabled claimant — Whether failure to comply with public sector equality duty — Equality Act 2010 (c 15), ss 19, 20, 149 — Fines (Deductions from Income Support) Regulations 1992 (SI 1992/2182), reg 4 — Universal Credit, Personal Independence Payment, Jobseeker’s Allowance and Employment Support Allowance (Claims and Payments) Regulations 2013 (SI 2013/380), reg 60, Sch 6, para 4
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Public law
R (Ncube) v Brighton and Hove City Council (Shelter intervening) — [2021] WLR(D) 169
Local Government — Homeless persons — Temporary accommodation — Government introducing initiative to temporarily accommodate rough sleepers during Covid-19 pandemic — Claimant street homeless failed asylum seeker requesting accommodation form local authority — Local authority refusing to accommodate on basis that provision of housing assistance to no recourse to public funds failed asylum seeker unlawful notwithstanding Government initiative — Claimant seeking judicial review of refusal to accommodate — Whether claim academic following subsequent provision of accommodation by Home Office — Whether local authority having power to provide accommodation notwithstanding statutory restriction of provision of housing assistance to those in position of claimant — Local Government Act 1972 (c 70) s 138 — Housing Act 1996 (c 52), s 185 — Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002 (c 41), Sch 3, para 7 — National Health Service Act 2006 (c 41), s 2B
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Public law
R (Croyde Area Residents Association) v North Devon District Council — [2021] WLR(D) 168
PLANNING — Development — Certificate of lawfulness of proposed use or development — Local planning authority granting planning permission extending open period of holiday park — Permission referring to approved plan wrongly showing larger area than existing park — Certificate of lawfulness granted several years later for siting of caravans on area beyond holiday park but within approved plan area — Parties agreeing planning permission granted in error of law — Whether expiry of statutory time limit for challenge to certificate likewise precluding challenge to planning permission — Town and Country Planning Act 1990 (c 8), ss 284, 288(1)(b)(4B), 192(4)
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R (Cart) v Upper Tribunal (Public Law Project intervening) — [2011] QB 120
JUDICIAL REVIEW — Court's jurisdiction — Special Immigration Appeals Commission — Commission “superior court of record” -- Commission revoking and refusing bail on basis of closed evidence without disclosing gist to claimants -- Decisions unappealable -- Whether commission alter ego of High Court -- Whether decisions susceptible to judicial review -- Whether violating claimants' Convention rights -- Special Immigration Appeals Commission Act 1997, s 1(3) (as inserted by Anti-terrorism, Crime and Security Act 2001, s 35)
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