Case Reports

The English Court of Appeal has allowed an appeal by the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions against a decision that a widow of a formerly polygamous marriage was entitled to Bereavement Payment and Widowed Parent’s Allowance. Nasim Akhtar, the respondent, had married her husband, A, in P

A bio-energy company whose appeal against the refusal of an application for planning permission for an energy-from-waste installation was refused by the Scottish Ministers has failed to appeal that decision in the Inner House of the Court of Session. North Lanarkshire Biopower Ltd had proposed a dev

A judge in the Outer House of the Court of Session has declared that a purported planning grant for an e-bike docking station outside a Category B listed tenement building in Dundee is ultra vires and of no effect after the decision was challenged by locals. Westend Residents CIC, a commun

A sheriff has determined that the death of a prisoner in Scotland’s only privately-run prison could potentially have been avoided were it not for defects in the prison’s then-current system of working. John Smith died as a result of heart and lung disease on 20 April 2019 in his cell in

The family of a 50-year-old man who died after having an accident on a diving boat near Cape Wrath have been awarded £290,000 in damages by a judge in the Outer House of the Court of Session. Debbie Warner, the widow of the late Lex Warner, raised the action following her husband’s death

A sheriff has ordered the Brexit Party to pay just over £22,000 in unpaid invoice expenses to an advertising company based in Glasgow. VMS Enterprises Ltd, a supplier of mobile advertising services in the form of mobile billboards and electronic boards, was contracted by the then-Brexit Party

An appeal by a man charged with 19 sexual offences against six different complainers challenging a trial judge’s decision to review orders allowing certain evidence to be led by him has been refused by the High Court of Justiciary. The appellant, JW, made the appeal under section 275(9) of the

A prisoner who challenged a decision of the Parole Board that he should not be released from prison on licence has had his petition for judicial review of the decision refused by the Outer House of the Court of Session. Dean Ryan, who had previously been in closed prison conditions, argued that the

The Sheriff Appeal Court has determined that a certificate of repairs issued by the proprietors of a farm in respect of a real burden to the purchasers of the burdened property contained manifest errors preventing it from being wholly enforceable. Paul and Evonne Salmond, originally the de

The Inner House of the Court of Session has refused to direct that the sole executor of a late South African woman who left part of her estate to charity can donate it to a charity with a similar name to a non-existent one named in the will. Vindex Trustees Ltd, the sole executor under the will and

A judge in the Outer House of the Court of Session has ruled that two children of UK citizens who emigrated to New Zealand acquired habitual residence in Scotland following the couple’s divorce. The petitioner, F, the child’s father, sought orders under the Child Abduction and Custody Ac

A sheriff in Edinburgh Sheriff Court has found that a local authority employee who acted as a whistleblower in its education department is entitled to an unabridged copy of an independent report into the events surrounding his original protected disclosures. John Travers, who had been an employee of

A judge in the Outer House of the Court of Session has rejected three of four contentions by a fabric business that their bank breached a duty to exercise reasonable skill and care in relation to their account after they sent over £500,000 from their account to a fraudster. Sekers Fabrics Ltd

The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) has made a preliminary ruling that workplace rules preventing the wearing of religiously mandated clothing do not of themselves constitute direct discrimination based on religious belief.  The question was referred to the CJEU by the Labour Cour

A man who was convicted of assaulting his friend and ex-partner and of attempted murder of the former has had his sentence reduced by 3 years after an appeal to the High Court of Justiciary.  Colin Marshall was sentenced in cumulo by the trial sheriff to 18 years’ imprisonment with a cust