In rejecting a company’s plea that it was not bound by the terms of an agreement with energy consultants, the Court of Appeal acknowledged that a better deal might well have been achievable but emphasised that ‘sympathy does not found a defence’ to a breach
In circumstances where an unwary taxpayer incurred a $560,000 income tax liability through the partial surrender of life insurance policies, the First-Tier Tribunal has lamented the ‘outrageously unfair’ result arising from a combination of prescriptive legislation and the taxpayer’s own ill-advised actions. The taxpayer had
An 88-year-old political campaigner has won a landmark Court of Appeal ruling that the retention on a police database of details concerning his attendance at various protests amounted to a violation of his human right to respect for privacy. John Catt, from Brighton, East Sussex,
In circumstances where a teacher’s wrongful dismissal claim has been the subject of no less than five substantive hearings – and is in line for a sixth – the Court of Appeal has urged the parties to compromise. The court noted that, five years after
A businessman has been held personally liable for debts of more than $12 million even though he was not a party to the loan agreements which created the debt. The High Court ruled that a letter he wrote offering to provide security for the loans
In an important ruling for employers and the insurance industry, a sole director and shareholder who sued his own company after his finger was sliced off in a workplace accident has had his compensation hopes dashed. The Court of Appeal ruled that the claimant’s own
The controversial HS2 high-speed rail scheme has suffered a setback after the High Court ruled that the consultation process in respect of compensation to be paid to property owners affected by the multi-billion-pound project ‘was so unfair as to be unlawful’. However, the Department of
In the context of a $10 million dispute in respect of a metal trading contract, a judge was entitled to substitute his own views for those of arbitrators who had reached an ‘obviously wrong’ conclusion, the Court of Appeal has ruled. In circumstances where there
A potential clash between one of Britain’s biggest regeneration projects and the re-opening of fuel terminals alongside the Manchester Ship Canal came under the High Court spotlight as landowners argued that they were being kept in the dark about issues which could have a major
A teacher who, whilst suffering from depression and extreme stress, inflicted life-threatening injuries on a 14-year-old pupil, has been barred from working with vulnerable adults, as well as with children. The Court of Appeal ruled that the restrictions imposed by the Disclosure and Barring Service
