Mitchell Skilling

A commercial judge has ordered a law firm to pay around £12.5 million, inclusive of interest, to a former client after a finding of professional negligence in relation to a failed litigation in which it failed to timeously lodge caution on behalf of the client. Centenary 6 Ltd had sought the s

The UK Supreme Court has ruled that the Jehovah’s Witnesses organisation was not vicariously liable for a rape committed by a former elder on a 29-year-old married woman after an appeal by a Wales-based congregation of the organisation. The Trustees of the Barry Congregation of Jehovah’s

The Inner House of the Court of Session has reduced by one third an award of expenses due to be paid by an airline to a successful co-defender in an action raised by an injured passenger following a challenge to the determined expenses. It was not disputed that pursuer Colin Mather was entitled to h

A letting company which ostensibly rented residential flats in Edinburgh on a holiday letting basis has been refused permission to appeal to the Upper Tribunal against a decision that it was in breach of the repairing standard for residential properties. In an action raised by the City of Edinburgh

Two Crown appeals against a sheriff’s decision to sustain defence pleas of oppression by two prisoners charged with possessing an unauthorised SIM card within prison have been allowed by the Sheriff Appeal Court. Respondents Brandon Douglas and John Pow both argued that it was oppressive of th

A prisoner who was imprisoned in 1996 for murdering a young man with a knife in Renfrew has successfully petitioned for a judicial review of a decision of the Parole Board for Scotland’s not to release him on licence. DD, the petitioner, was aged 16 when he was convicted in June 1996 and was s

The family of a man who died of mesothelioma that alleged his condition was caused by asbestos exposure have lost an Inner House appeal against a decision that his former employer was not responsible for his condition. Nicola Watt and other pursuers averred that Lend Lease Construction Ltd, which pr

An Arbroath man who fell down an unlit communal staircase in his building at night has lost an appeal against a sheriff’s decision that the local authority responsible for the maintenance of the stairwell was not liable for the accident. Craig Hill argued in his case before the Sheriff Appeal

A Dundee sheriff has ruled that a sum of just over £27,000 paid by two property buyers to a fraudulent bank account in the belief that they were paying a legitimate house deposit did not constitute money transferred under an agreement to which the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 applie

The High Court of Justiciary has extended the punishment part of a life sentence imposed on a man jailed for murder by stabbing by a further five years after a Crown appeal against the sentence. Andrew Palfreman originally received a punishment part of 12 years after being convicted of the murder of

An English copyright judge has ruled that the 2019 John Lewis Christmas advert featuring a dragon unable to control its fire did not infringe the copyright of a children’s book author who had self-published a book with a similar premise. Fay Evans, who authored a work titled Fred the Fire-Snee

A tenant of a property in Cambuslang has been refused permission to appeal against his eviction and a payment order by the Upper Tribunal for Scotland after it found that no arguable ground of appeal had been made out. An order for eviction was made against David Hutcheson by the First-tier Tribunal

A reclaiming motion by a Scottish mother challenging the return of her two children to their father in the USA on the basis of a grave risk defence has been allowed by the Inner House of the Court of Session. Reclaimer SD was the original respondent in an action raised under the Hague Convention on

A former employee of the Scottish government has had her claim of harassment and victimisation on account of her race based on deliberate underpayment and unfair treatment dismissed by the Employment Tribunal. Claimant J Adegun, who was ethnically black, sought to establish that the Scottish Ministe

The Sheriff Appeal Court has refused most of an appeal by an estate management company challenging a sheriff’s decision that the majority of its claim against a former client for unpaid fees had been insufficiently specified to allow a proof, but allowed the appeal in relation to probation for