A local resident’s concerns about a major redevelopment of a Cheshire town threw into sharp perspective the difficult balance that has to be struck between commercial confidentiality, legal professional privilege (LPP) and the public’s ‘right to know’. The local authority had for more than a
In a telling example of commercial dishonesty leading to ruin, a businessman who failed to reveal his chequered history when raising funds for the purchase of a well-known football club is facing an £18 million damages bill. A fund management company had agreed to advance
The tragic deaths of four miners in South Wales has led to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) bringing criminal charges against the owners of the mine under the Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007. The CPS concluded that the failure to ensure a safe
The commencement of the publication by the Environment Agency of flood maps that show the danger of flooding from surface water will be an unwelcome development for homeowners in the areas shown on the maps as ‘high’ flood risk – where the likelihood of a
A hot air ballooning company will enjoy a substantial cash-flow advantage after it convinced the First-tier Tribunal that VAT is chargeable on its gift vouchers not when they are paid for but when they are redeemed, often several months later. The company specialises in laying
London councils who were refused exemptions from a fundamental shift in planning policy – designed to tackle the acute housing shortage by allowing the wholesale conversion of offices into homes without planning consent – have failed to convince the High Court that they were treated
When an adjudication decision is made in a contractual dispute, does the ‘clock’ start again for bringing an action? That was the question before the Court of Appeal recently. In the case in point, the ‘loser’ in a construction contract dispute which was decided by
In a signpost decision, the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) has rejected novel arguments that agency workers who complete a 12-week qualification period become automatically entitled to the same rights as directly employed personnel who work alongside them. A group of cleaners had, for many years,
An animal lover’s legal campaign to secure a return home for what remains of a prize flock of sheep bequeathed to him by a 93-year-old friend has been brought to a sad end by the Court of Appeal. The man had been given the flock
When two innocent collectors each paid £1 million or more to a ‘rogue’ classic car dealer for the same McLaren Formula 1 racing car, only one of them could obtain good title to the vehicle and the other had to lose his money, the High
