Mitchell Skilling

The Upper Tribunal for Scotland has ordered a landlord to pay nearly £1,400 to a tenant after quashing the First-tier Tribunal’s decision that payments intended to reimburse the landlord for a council tax payment were not an illegal premium in terms of the Rent (Scotland) Act 1984.

A man convicted of raping his stepdaughter and another teenager has lost an appeal against the conviction in the High Court of Justiciary. The appellant, GC, argued that an affidavit provided by a witness, MB, to his solicitors following his conviction amounted to fresh evidence in terms of the Crim

A former primary school teacher who raised an action seeking damages for personal injury from her former employer has had her claim dismissed by a judge in the Outer House of the Court of Session. It was the pursuer’s case that her employer did not take reasonable care for her safety and expos

An appeal by a Scottish landfill operator against a decision of the First-tier Tribunal that material used in the construction of landfill cell walls should be taxed at the standard rate has been partially successful. Barr Environmental Ltd raised the action in the FtT challenging Revenue Scotland&r

A Crown appeal against a trial judge’s decision to accept a no case to answer submission on behalf of a man accused of raping a woman in a Dundee hotel has been allowed by the Criminal Appeal Court of the High Court of Justiciary. The respondent, MMI, was acquitted of a charge of contravening

A commercial judge has awarded a former sales representative for a company that sold testing kits a payment of over £245,000 for bonuses accrued over the early stages of the Covid-19 pandemic. An action was raised by Mast Group Ltd seeking declarator that its employee Patricia Chalmers was not

The Sheriff Appeal Court has held that being in possession of a knife for the purpose of using it to commit suicide is not a reasonable excuse in terms of section 49(4) of the Criminal Law (Consolidation) (Scotland) Act 1995 after an appeal against conviction was raised on that basis. The appellant,

A former postal apprentice who was unable to consistently use disabled parking bays at his workplace has been awarded £2,700 in compensation by an employment tribunal. The claimant, Mr S Johnstone, also claimed that he had been subject to a number of discriminatory acts relating to his disabil

A clinical negligence case raised against the Grampian Health Board by a woman who claimed to have suffered back pain following a caesarean section has been refused by a lord ordinary.  Arlene Chisholm claimed that a spinal anaesthesia had been performed negligently prior to the operation, leav

A judicial review petition challenging the policy of the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority to withhold compensation for victims with unspent criminal convictions has been refused by the Outer House of the Court of Session. A, the petitioner, had applied to CICA, the second respondent, for com

A judge in the Outer House of the Court of Session has found that an airline was liable for injuries sustained by a paraplegic man who fell out of a wheelchair being pushed by one of its employees on an air bridge. Colin Mather, the pursuer, had flown from Edinburgh to Hamburg, Germany, on a flight

The UK Supreme Court has dismissed an appeal by a man who along with his brother was convicted of aggravated burglary in County Down, Northern Ireland, against the decision of the sentencing judge to reduce the amount of his sentencing discount. Owen Maughan contended that the sentencing judge had n

A newly published judgment from 2019 details how former Scottish MP Natalie McGarry, who was sentenced to 18 months’ imprisonment for embezzlement that year, won an appeal against a sheriff’s decision not to allow her to withdraw her guilty pleas, with the Crown granted authority fo

A Qatari couple whose four daughters fled to the UK in January 2020 after facing abuse at home have been unsuccessful in an action seeking an order for the return of their youngest daughter. Pursuers ZA and MN sought a specific issue order for the return of M, aged 13, to Qatar. All four sisters wer

A prisoner serving a life sentence for murder has lost an appeal against a decision to refuse him legal aid to pursue a challenge against a freedom of information request refusal in the UK Supreme Court. William Beggs argued that his case engaged the rights afforded to him by article 6 of the ECHR.