The High Court has upheld the government’s controversial policy to pin housing benefit increases to the level of general inflation. In dismissing a judicial review challenge brought by a poverty relief charity, the court rejected arguments that Secretary of State for Work and Pensions had
In a ruling which will send shock waves through the pharmaceutical industry, a judge has decided that the European patent protecting the UK’s most successful anti-malarial prophylactic is invalid. In upholding arguments put forward by generic drug manufacturers, the court ruled that the particular combination
In the context of an abortive contract for the sale of a substantial quantity of grain, the Commercial Court has ruled that the agreement was not necessarily stymied by a temporary ban on wheat exports from Russia. The seller failed to convince the court that,
A former head teacher who claims that she was the victim of a concerted campaign of racial discrimination, harassment and victimisation in order to oust her from her post has had part of her case struck out by the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) on grounds
The freehold owner of a semi-derelict property that was compulsorily acquired by a local authority has been awarded £105,000 compensation. Rejecting Leicester City Council’s plea that compensation should be assessed at in the region of £91,000, the Upper Tribunal ruled that it was legitimate to
A businessman who won a landmark ruling that a credit reference agency had breached its duty under the Data Protection Act 1998 by wrongly branding him a bankrupt has had his victory turned to ashes by the Court of Appeal. Dashing Keith Smeaton’s hopes of
The fictional protagonists in Charles Dickens’ Bleak House took generations to waste their inheritance on interminable court proceedings but it took a real family just four years to do the same. In a ruling which underlines the wisdom of compromise, the Court of Appeal has
In the context of unfair prejudice petitions in which allegations of wrongdoing were made against, inter alia, two members of the ruling family of a foreign state, the Companies Court has emphatically upheld the principle of open justice in dismissing applications that the proceedings should be
In the context of a contractual dispute over the $37.5 million sale of two large gas plants, the Commercial Court has ruled that the seller is entitled to retain $7.5 million in instalments remitted by the buyer before it defaulted on payment of the balance.The
An Australian wine exporter that terminated its relationship with its English agent and distributor following the latter entering administration is beneficially entitled to sums paid by customers for wine supplies since the date of termination, the High Court has ruled. The decision means that the
