Mitchell Skilling

A Dundee sheriff has granted decree of absolvitor to the former partner of a man who sought a five-figure sum from her on the basis that he had given it to her to allow her grandmother to buy her council house, in which he had expected to eventually live with her. Pursuer Richard Gourlay claimed he

An application for recall of an arrestment served by the City of Edinburgh council on the bank account of a man with unpaid council tax has been granted by an Edinburgh sheriff. Kevin McKenzie argued that funds in his Bank of Scotland account could not be lawfully arrested as his sole income was der

A landlord who was ordered to pay £4,000 to two former tenants after being found in breach of tenancy deposit regulations has had the sum reduced by £1,500 on appeal to the Upper Tribunal for Scotland. Gordon Bavaird, a landlord since 2017, had originally taken a deposit from tenants Lis

An application for leave to appeal by an American woman who was accused of defrauding her former employer against a sheriff’s decision to allow her extradition back to the state of Missouri to stand trial has been refused by the High Court of Justiciary. Sarah Lynn Tweedy, or Morrow, was accus

An appeal against conviction and sentence by a man convicted of indecent practices against young boys in the Hawick area between 1993 and 2011 has been refused by the High Court of Justiciary. Appellant DW was convicted of two counts of lewd, indecent and libidinous practices, one at common law and

A sheriff in the Upper Tribunal for Scotland has allowed an appeal by a landlord who was refused an order for possession by the First-tier Tribunal after it ruled that he had not made out the eviction ground of intention to demolish or remodel the let property. David Stainthorpe sought to recover po

The Inner House of the Court of Session has ruled that the trustee of an occupational pension scheme was entitled to enter into an arrangement that would alter the manner in which scheme members received increases to their pension. Petitioner abrdn (SLSPS) Pension Trustee Co Ltd sought directions in

A Lord Ordinary has ruled that the widow of a man who died from mesothelioma arising from asbestos exposure during his employment is entitled to seek damages despite an earlier action raised while the deceased was alive being settled. Elaine Crozier and other members of her family argued that they h

The widow of a man who died falling through a fragile roof while carrying out maintenance work has been allowed a proof without excision of any of her pleadings after a dispute over the nature of his employment arose. Victoria Rose, wife of the late Andrew Rose, and other members of her family averr

The Supreme Court has ruled that an agreement by a third party to fund litigation in exchange for a percentage of damages recovered in the event of success constitutes a “damages-based agreement” for the purposes of statute. The issue arose in the context of applications to bring collect

An accused who was placed into custody in England while on bail for an offence committed in Scotland has lost an appeal against a decision to extend the 12-month time bar within which his Scottish trial required to commence. Ramel Appleby was due to stand trial for various drug-related offences in S

The Sheriff Appeal Court has refused an appeal by the proprietors of an access road against a sheriff’s decision that the owner of farmland only accessible via that road maintained pedestrian and vehicular access across the piece of land and allowed her a cross appeal against a decision that s

A commercial judge’s decision that a clause in a road work contract stating that certain monies were to be returned to “the Contractor”, meaning a joint venture, should be interpreted instead as a relevant contractor company that was part of that joint venture has been overturned o

A Scottish woman who instructed English solicitors in what became a Court of Session action arising from an accident she had while on holiday in France has lost an appeal against a lord ordinary’s decision to uphold an auditor’s determination that she could not recover the English solici

The Supreme Court has held that a high street bank did not have a duty not to carry out a customer’s instructions if it had reasonable grounds for believing that customer was defrauded after an appeal against a decision of the Court of Appeal of England & Wales finding that such a duty cou