UK Law Weekly

When a number of oil spills in Nigeria caused significant ground and water contamination, the King of the local community pursued a claim against Shell and its local subsidiary. However when the claim was thrown out early on the question for the Supreme Court became what requirements do need to be met in order for a case to proceed to a full trial. Music from bensound.com https://uklawweekly.subst...

In a recent investigation the Serious Fraud Office wanted to access documents held abroad by a U.S. company. Does the department have the power to reach across the Atlantic for relevant paperwork? In this episode we look at the Supreme Court's response. Music from bensound.com https://uklawweekly.substack.com/subscribe

The coronavirus pandemic has wreaked havoc for almost every business in the UK. In this case the Supreme Court looked at a range of insurance policies and answered some fundamental questions of interpretation so that claims could proceed and life could slowly get back to normal. Music from bensound.com https://uklawweekly.substack.com/subscribe

This week we finish off 2020 by looking at three cases in one episode. The first is about when the courts should allow collective actions by multiple claimants to proceed, the second is about the proposed new runway at Heathrow airport and the third is an immigration case where a deportation is balanced against the need to protect family life. Music from bensound.com https://uklawweekly.substack.c...

After Gourlay's judicial review of a Parole Board decision was successful he argued that the Board should have to pay his costs for the review. This raised questions about whether the Parole Board is a judicial body but as we see in this episode it also led to other important discussions about who makes the rules about costs orders and how effective those rules are. Music from bensound.com https:/...

Casinos will often use free bet vouchers as a way to lure in punters but in this case the Supreme Court considers how these should be evaluated when it comes to working out gaming duties owed to HMRC. Music from bensound.com https://uklawweekly.substack.com/subscribe

Questions arose about the impartiality of an arbitrator after he accepted appointments from one of the parties in other disputes and failed to disclose them. The Supreme Court had to decide whether this amounted to a real possibility of bias or if a new arbitrator should be appointed instead. Music from bensound.com https://uklawweekly.substack.com/subscribe

While the limitation period for claims is six years, the precise date on which this starts is not clear in cases of mistake. Over the years attempts to clarify the law have not moved things much further forward but in this sweeping litigation the Supreme Court were given the chance to settle the legal position. Music from bensound.com Support the podcast: https://uklawweekly.substack.com/subscribe

The civil and criminal standard of proof are generally pretty easy to distinguish but the lines get blurred when there is an inquest into a suspicious death. In this case the Supreme Court had the opportunity to straighten out the rules and decide which of the two standards should apply where there is a conclusion of suicide. Music from bensound.com https://uklawweekly.substack.com/subscribe

In a difficult decision the Supreme Court had to balance the interests of a Children's Cancer Trust against new affordable housing. At the heart of the dispute were restrictive covenants and in this landmark case the Justices were presented with an opportunity to set a marker down. Music from bensound.com https://uklawweekly.substack.com/subscribe

Bonus Episode: A Question of Law Interviews Marcus Cleaver About Brexit

A dispute over a drug company's alleged anti-competitive practices leads to a legal case about the influence of decisions from the European Courts in the UK. Music from bensound.com Subscribe to the newsletter: https://uklawweekly.substack.com/subscribe

In the second of two cases looking at illegality as a defence we turn to the proceedings brought by Ecila Henderson who murdered her mother during a psychotic episode. It turned out that the NHS Trust was negligent in its care and she should never have been in a position to commit this awful act in the first place. She claimed damages from the NHS Trust for their negligence and the Supreme Court w...

When Maria Grondona committed mortgage fraud she didn't think that her plans would inadvertently fall apart because of the negligence of her solicitors. She pursued a claim for professional negligence but the key question in that case was whether that claim should be allowed to proceed given her own illegal activities. In this episode we also consider the development of case law since the 2016 dec...

When Mr. Pathan submitted his immigration application everything appeared to be in order. However the Home Office later decided to take away the sponsorship licence form his employer leaving his application doomed to failure. In this episode we discuss whether the Secretary of State was under a duty to let Mr. Pathan know about this development and if he should have time to rectify the issue. Musi...

When Z and her family needed social housing she turned to her local council for support. Unfortunately the search took longer than expected because one of the charities that provides such accommodation only does so for members of the Orthodox Jewish community. In this anti-discrimination case the Supreme Court has to balance the needs of those who require housing against the aims and wishes of cha...

Animal welfare concerns also enter into the slaughterhouse to ensure that animals are killed in as humane a way as possible without any unnecessary cruelty. When a slaughterhouse was charged with two offences a debate arose as to what level of intent was required. On this episode we discuss the implications of strict liability in a criminal law context and how animal welfare might be affected by B...

A fire at a Russian power plant led to the insurance company raising questions about the quality of the construction work. While there is an arbitration agreement in the contract it was unclear whether this was governed by English law or Russian law and so the Supreme Court had to find an answer. Music from bensound.com

A breach of several patents raises questions about the operation of intellectual property law in the mobile phone market and the behaviour of certain Chinese companies. The Supreme Court decides on a range of issues including the impact of competition law in this area. Music from bensound.com

In order to attract a major retailer to his new shopping centre Mr Shortall agreed that Dunnes Stores would not have any competitors on the site. After a few years and with the shopping centre struggling to attract customers Shortall tried to get out of the agreement. In this judgment the Supreme Court had to decide whether the promise was a restraint of trade. Music from bensound.com

What were the motivations of a person who is now dead? That was the question before the court in this tax case as a dispute with HMRC arose in relation to the payment of inheritance tax. Music from bensound.com

A breach of a chartering contract brought up allegations of torture and the Supreme Court had to decide how such evidence should be reviewed in the English courts. Music from bensound.com

When a messy divorce spilled over into the way that a charity is organised the deciding vote remained with one member. Whether the courts should step in to ensure that justice is done is the subject of this case before the Supreme Court. Music from bensound.com

When Mark Sutherland agreed to meet up with a child he had talked to via a dating app he did not expect to be met by a group of paedophile hunters. After the correspondence was handed over to the police its use as evidence was challenged for being a breach of the right to private life. In this human rights case it was for the Supreme Court to decide how far the rights go to protect even those conv...

Avoiding the consequences of a judgment by transferring money to a different account is probably one of the least honest things that you can do. However in this case the attempt to recover that loss looked to be prevented by something called the 'reflective loss principle'. It is up to the Supreme Court to decide how this principle should operate and we discuss whether such a principle has any pla...