Last 3 months headlines – Page 1390
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Personal injury
Negligence – Hospitality and leisure – Breach of duty of care – Foreseeability Everett and Anor v Comojo (UK) Ltd (T/A the Metropolitan and Ors): CA (Civ Div) (Lords Justices Rix, Richards, Lady Justice Smith): 18 January 2011 ...
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Criminal procedure
Sentencing - Discharge of jury - Disclosure - Jury tampering R v (1) John Twomey (2) Peter Blake (3) Barry Hibberd (4) Glen Cameron: CA (Crim Div) (Lord Chief Justice Lord Judge, Mr Justice Rafferty, Mr Justice Roderick Evans): ...
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Environment
European Union – Local government – Planning – Conservation Morge v Hampshire County Council: SC (Lords Walker, Brown, Mance, Kerr, Lady Hale): 19 January 2011 The appellant objector (M) appealed ...
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Treatment of inherited assets upon divorce
Ever since the House of Lords decision in White v White [2000] UKHL 54, there has been an ongoing debate among family lawyers regarding the treatment of inherited assets upon divorce. As Lord Nicholls stated in White: ‘The judge should take it into account. He should decide how important it ...
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Decision time on ABSs
Next month, the Law Society council will have to make the most important decision in my presidential year, the outcome of which will have long-term implications for the profession. Council will have to decide whether to apply for the Solicitors Regulation Authority to be allowed to ...
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Libel tourist problem
Steven Heffer asserts that there is no evidence of a real problem of libel tourism. Here it is: in Akhmetov v Obozrevatel [2007], a Ukrainian oligarch sued in the English courts a Ukrainian website published in Ukrainian because it was accessed a few times in the UK.
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ProcureCos add insult to injury
I welcome Avtar Bhatoa’s assessment of the threat posed by the use of ProcureCos to obtain contracts from the Legal Services Commission. The Ministry of Justice proposals threaten the very existence of our firms.
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Embracing new business models
Avtar Bhatoa’s article is an interesting contribution to the debate about ProcureCos and their role in allowing the bar to bid directly for Legal Services Commission contracts (see [2011] Gazette, 27 January, 12). But his characterisation of the two sides of the legal profession as being at loggerheads is ...
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Counter-terrorism and punishment without trial
by Corinna Ferguson, legal officer at Liberty It was surely not unreasonable to expect that the coalition government’s counter-terror review would put the final nail in the coffin of control orders. This flawed system for dealing with suspected terrorists has suffered numerous defeats in the courts, ...
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Row erupts over police interpreters
Detainees at police stations in four areas of the north-west are at risk of miscarriages of justice due to the police forces’ use of inadequate interpreters, the Gazette has been told.
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Supreme Court widens definition of violent abuse
Solicitors have welcomed a Supreme Court ruling that domestic violence extends beyond physical contact to include other forms of violent conduct.
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Coalition is moving the Bribery Act issue into the 'too difficult' tray
Monty Raphael, special counsel to Peters & Peters and author of Blackstone’s Guide to the Bribery Act 2010, describes the government’s decision to delay implementation of the act as ‘puzzling’.
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Council cuts reprieve for legal advice centres
The High Court has quashed a decision by administrative body London Councils to cut £10m from its £26.4m grant scheme for voluntary organisations across the capital, including legal advice centres. The decision would have left more than 200 groups, including the Mary Ward Legal Advice ...
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Citizens’ advice bureaux in Birmingham to close
Five citizens’ advice bureaux in Birmingham are expected to close their doors next week, unless they can raise £50,000 per month to continue, after the city council withdrew all of its £600,000-a-year funding. Without new money, the City Centre, Northfield, Tyseley, Handsworth and Kingstanding services ...
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Appeal court backs CFA costs agreement
Solicitors must be allowed to shoulder the risk of adverse costs orders on behalf of their clients to ensure proper access to justice, the Court of Appeal has ruled, in a judgment welcomed by the Law Society. Giving judgment in Sibthorpe and Morris v London Borough ...
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The proposed legal aid cuts are both irresponsible and inequitable
The recent rally by Justice for All brought to the heart of Westminster the concerns of a coalition of organisations about the Conservative-led government’s proposed cuts to the legal aid budget.
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MoJ drops bill to modernise law of damages
The government dropped proposals to modernise the law of damages last month. The Ministry of Justice has decided not to proceed with the Civil Law Reform Bill published in December 2009. The bill had put forward several amendments to the law on damages, as recommended ...
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Law firm not liable to loan losses, says appeal court
A law firm that gave negligent advice to a bank before the bank lost £28m in loans advanced to two local authorities does not have to reimburse those losses, the Court of Appeal ruled last week. Overturning a High Court decision, the appeal court ruled in ...
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Fears grow over EU contract law 'confusion'
Magic circle firm Allen & Overy warned that a pan-European contract law could create ‘confusion and uncertainty’ for business, as the deadline for submissions to a European Commission consultation on the issue passed this week. The firm also criticised a lack of business representation on the ...