Case Reports

An appeal by an accused against a sheriff’s decision to extend the time limit for commencing his trial diet in Edinburgh has been refused by the High Court of Justiciary after it sought to clarify the modern law on the practice. Philip Barr was set to be tried under a charge of abusive conduct

A sheriff has determined that the medical treatment provided to a man who stabbed a pensioner while he was out walking his dog was not inadequate in a way that could have resulted in his death being avoided. Frank Kinnis died as a result of head injuries inflicted in the assault by David Johnstone o

The Sheriff Appeal Court has overturned a decision that a man who made a claim against the insurer of a driver who struck a hire vehicle for the costs of hiring a replacement vehicle did not have title to sue. Appellant Robert McGarrigle was forced to hire another vehicle to continue working as a se

A Lord Ordinary has allowed a proof in an action raised by a legal practitioner against a sheriff and the Crown based on an alleged series of assaults said to have been committed against her by the sheriff in 2018, and found that the Lord Advocate was the correct person to be sued for the purposes o

A judicial review petition seeking declarator that a decision of the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs prohibiting UK-registered fishing vessels from catching sandeel for commercial purposes in the North Sea for the entirety of 2022 has been refused by a Lord Ordinary. Sunbe

The Sheriff Appeal Court has upheld a conviction under section 2(1) of the Abusive Behaviour and Sexual Harm (Scotland) Act 2016 after an appeal by a man who was found guilty of uploading images of his former partner to a swingers’ website while they were still together. DF was sentenced to a

An appeal against a decision of the Scottish Legal Complaints Commission not to accept large parts of a complaint made against a retired solicitor for investigation has been allowed by the Inner House of the Court of Session. Federico De La Torre made a complaint against his former solicitor, Hamish

A former SNP MP who was sentenced to two years’ imprisonment for embezzling funds from a Scottish independence group and the Glasgow City branch of the SNP has had her sentence reduced by four months following an appeal to the High Court of Justiciary. In an appeal against her conviction and s

The High Court of Justiciary has refused an appeal against conviction by a man charged with involvement with an organised crime group and the murder of a man shot outside a club in Amsterdam after ruling that the jury was correctly directed on how to use evidence provided by a police informant. Appe

A Dunfermline sheriff has dismissed an action by a former employee of a student housing provider who alleged that his employer had breached UK GDPR rules when processing his personal data in the context of defending tribunal proceedings brought by another employee. Courtney Riley, who was employed b

The shareholders of a liquidated company that owned a £3.25 million property in Edinburgh have succeeded in a reclaiming motion challenging a Lord Ordinary’s decision to refuse to grant them decree for payment of their shares of the sale proceeds. Colonnade Properties Ltd and other trust

A Sheriff Principal has ruled that it is possible to appeal against a refusal to grant an application for recall in simple procedure actions after the issue was raised in an action by a couple against a plasterer for allegedly defective work. Appellant David Bell argued that the sheriff had erred in

A Guinean football player who sought a UK visa in order to undergo trials with professional clubs in Scotland has lost a judicial review case against the Home Secretary’s latest decision to refuse his application. Mohammed Camara, who had been trying to obtain a UK visa since he was 18, argued

A Lord Ordinary has absolved the operators of a leisure centre in Perth of any liability arising from alleged sexual abuse committed by one of its former employees against two brothers in the 1980s. Pursuers C and S alleged that first defender Norman Shaw, formerly an employee of Live Active Leisure

An appeal by a child accused of wilful fire-raising against a sheriff’s decision to extend the 12-month time bar in respect of his case, which had yet to proceed to a trial diet, has been refused by the High Court of Justiciary. Appellant BS was accused of setting fire to the Wester Hailes Edu