Case Reports

The Supreme Court has ruled that a woman whose father died in a bomb explosion orchestrated by the IRA in 1988 could not challenge a decision by the Attorney General of Northern Ireland not to further investigate the death. It was the position of the AGNI that the Human Rights Act 1998 did not impos

A personal injury sheriff has found the expenses of a settled claim arising out of a road accident should be paid by the pursuer after he accepted a pre-litigation offer five days prior to a proof. Pursuer John Carty, who was involved in an accident in May 2021, had raised a claim against Churchill

A full bench of the High Court of Justiciary has confirmed that a witness testifying to the de recenti distress of a complainer is capable of corroborating direct evidence from a complainer that she has been raped. The reference arose from a case in which the respondent was charged with the assault

A Glasgow man who was jailed for 40 months after pleading guilty to assaulting his partner’s brother and causing considerable damage to vehicles with his van afterwards has had his cumulative sentence reduced by eight months on appeal to the High Court of Justiciary. Counsel for Alan James arg

The Supreme Court has rejected an appeal challenging a decision which found that police officers and staff in the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) were historically underpaid holiday pay since 1998, up to a total value of £30 million. Delivering the judgment, Lord Kitchin and Lady Ros

Matthew McGovern writes about the sentencing young people guideline in the wake of the Hogg case. The Appeal Court have spoken: Sean Hogg’s conviction has been overturned (this is the accused who had received a Community Payback Order after being convicted of raping a 13-year-old girl). G

A commercial judge has ruled that the joint administrators of two companies were in breach of good faith obligations under a deposit and exclusivity agreement it entered into with a company seeking to purchase an Aberdeen papermill from them. ATE Farms Ltd, which entered negotiations with the admini

The High Court of Justiciary has reduced the sentence of a man given a 37-month prison sentence for supplying a dangerous substance sold as an unlicensed weight loss supplement after he successfully argued that the sentence was excessive. It was argued by Jamie George, who sold the substance to pers

A commercial judge has dismissed an action against a former director of a Scottish football club suffering from financial difficulties after it raised an action seeking £148,000 from him on the ground of breach of fiduciary duty. Livingston FC Ltd claimed that Neil Hogarth had misappropriated

The High Court of Justiciary has acquitted a man given a community sentence for raping a 13-year-old girl in a park in Midlothian after an appeal was made challenging directions given to the trial jury. Counsel for appellant Sean Hogg argued that the trial judge had misdirected the jury as to the co

A Kilmarnock takeaway manager who sexually assaulted a 17-year-old employee at the end of her work shift has lost an appeal by stated case against his conviction. It was argued by appellant Bhupinder Singh, who was given 150 hours of unpaid work for the offence, that the sheriff erred in repelling a

The Sheriff Appeal Court has held that a Glasgow sheriff was correct to find that the term “hun” used in a footballing context was a sectarian remark capable of aggravating an offence by religious prejudice after an appeal against conviction by a Celtic supporter who used the term when a

An Aberdeen man who was banned from driving for 16 months following his expected release from prison in 2025 after driving dangerous at the Aberdeen beachfront has lost an appeal against his sentence before the Sheriff Appeal Court. Bradley Young, who was convicted of dangerous driving in and around

A lord ordinary has dismissed an action raised against the Clydesdale Bank in which a business owner who was mis-sold a tailored business loan sought to recall a decree of absolvitor granted in a 2013 legal action he also raised against the bank. John Glare had sought to establish that his business

The owner and landlord of the site of a former whisky distillery in Elgin has been largely unsuccessful in an appeal against a decision of the UK Intellectual Property Office in relation to a trade mark dispute between the landlord and a tenant using one of its warehouses to provide whisky maturatio