The Employment Tribunal (ET) has now delivered its judgment in the long-running case of Homer v Chief Constable of West Yorkshire Police , which dealt with a claim of indirect age discrimination brought under the Employment Equality (Age) Regulations 2006 ...
One of the most difficult aspects of divorce is often the negotiation of the financial settlement: this can be particularly thorny when there are substantial sums involved. Often, assets are held indirectly, in companies or trusts, which can add to the...
When a landlord granted a lease over a maisonette to a tenant then subsequently alleged that the lease was drafted incorrectly, it took the intervention of the court to decide who was to pay how much for repairs to the property. The landlord claimed that...
Under proposals put to the European Parliament’s Committee on Civil Liberties , Justice and Home Affairs, data protection law looks set to be reformed such that the use of ‘pre-ticked’ boxes will no longer be permitted as a way of showing...
Two company directors who lied to HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) when under investigation for possible tax offences have been jailed for tax evasion and fraud. The pair ran a successful IT firm. When they were investigated, they were, as is usual, required...
In these straitened times, it is regrettably not uncommon for a buyer to withdraw from the purchase of a property after a legal agreement to purchase has been completed. When this happens, the vendor may be entitled to claim damages. In a recent case , a...
In a ruling which emphasises the importance of fathers in the lives of young children, the Court of Appeal has upheld a man’s right to have contact with his eight-year-old son . Despite concerns expressed by the boy’s mother that the father had...
The Court of Appeal has ruled ( Charles v Tesco Stores Ltd. ) that the Employment Tribunal (ET) erred when it struck out an employee’s race discrimination claim on the ground that it had been lodged too late. In ruling that the claim was out of time,...
When a tenant’s lease has a break clause, normally all rent due must be paid in full before the break clause can be activated – even if the rent paid runs beyond the break date. If a tenant decides to pay only the rent ‘due’ until...
The dangers of giving a power of attorney to the wrong person have yet again come into focus following the conviction of a Birmingham estate agent who had stolen more than £250,000 from an elderly couple. The couple, a woman aged 93 and her...
A case has been decided which arose because accounting errors were made by a company which was bought by another company. Some of the management of the company which was sold invested in the buying company, so that the eventual result was a management...
A patent can only be granted when there is novelty in the thing for which the patent is sought. This is why it is critical that one’s novel designs do not become public knowledge: once they do, a patent application can be defeated on the ground of...
The shock result of a recent tax case will send reverberations around the furnished holiday letting (FHL) industry, after the court reset the bar regarding the level of service provision that has to accompany a letting for it to qualify for beneficial...
When land is owned in trust for the benefit of more than one person, the question of what should be done with it can be the source of dispute. Often, the best solution is to partition the land between the beneficiaries, so that each can do what they wish...
West Midlands logistics company Nightfreight (GB) Limited has been fined £300,000 for breaches of health and safety law after one of its drivers was killed by a runaway lorry at its depot in Earls Barton, Northamptonshire. Russell Homer, 44, had just...
A woman who crashed into a stanchion on a boat during a river trip, suffering injuries to her face, has been awarded damages of £55,000. Sinead McGlinchey, 23, was attending a surprise barbeque party with four other women in April 2008. The event...
A major principle on which the legal system in England and Wales relies is that the communication between a client and his or her lawyer is private. The courts cannot force the disclosure of the communications passing between client and lawyer, whether...
A legal battle which led to a six-day trial resulted in the Court of Appeal declaring that a will was invalid , even though it had been drafted by an experienced solicitor. The case concerned a will that was written in 2007, the practical effect of which...
When a road or pathway is regularly used by people and the owner takes no active steps to prevent this or assert control over the land concerned, an ‘easement by prescription’ can be created under which the right of access becomes lawful and the...
The French Government passed measures last year which have increased the taxes payable by non-resident owners of properties in France and further rises are planned. Since 1 January 2012, the rate of tax for rental income arising on French property is 35.5...
The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) can take a very strong line when it discovers that price information is passing between competitors with the result that the competition between them is diminished. This can include situations in which information about...
The Agency Workers Regulations 2010 (AWR), which implement the EU Agency Workers Directive, came into force on 1 October 2011. Under Regulation 5 of the AWR, agency workers have the right to the same basic terms and conditions of employment as if they had...
A businesswoman whose business fell victim to the recession has persuaded the family court that it would be appropriate for the settlement she had agreed to pay her ex-husband to be varied. The total settlement was £450,000, made up of: ...
The Internet is throwing up a number of examples of cases in which information is ‘recycled’ in breach of copyright and a legal action results. In one such case, the court ruled that if the actions of an organisation ‘inevitably’ lead...
A couple who defaulted on their £500,000 mortgage have failed to convince the High Court that the loan is unenforceable by reason of the lender’s failure to comply with the safeguards contained within the Consumer Credit Act 1974 . The Court...
