Buying property at auction can be hazardous and should never be attempted without instructing lawyers to carry out all the necessary checks. In a case on point, a father and son bought a former council flat for over £200,000, in ignorance of the fact that
Choosing independent professionals, rather than family members, as executors of your will has many advantages. Not least amongst them, as a High Court ruling emphasised, is the requirement that they be fully independent and serve all beneficiaries’ interests even-handedly. The case concerned the estate of
Many private companies provide support to public authorities in the exercise of their powers and duties, but does that mean that they are themselves performing a public function, thus making them susceptible to judicial review? The Court of Appeal tackled that burning issue in the
Not every eventuality can be foreseen by those who draft trust deeds and, over time, the powers granted to trustees can prove inadequate to their task. However, as a case concerning a nationally important stately home showed, the High Court can step in to make
The trouble with contracts that have not been professionally drafted is that what may appear trivial inaccuracies or ambiguities can later come back to bite you. In a case on point, a civil engineering agreement left the role – and even the identity – of
Unauthorised use of personal data for marketing or other purposes is unlawful but, in order to win compensation, individuals affected by such conduct must prove that they have suffered not just a breach of their rights but actual damage. A judge resoundingly made that point
Fortunes are built on ideas, but they have to be truly inventive to qualify for patent protection. In an instructive High Court case, however, that test was passed by a novel method of protecting computers from the modern scourge of malware. Prior to the relevant
Many employers provide for benefits to be paid to workers who contract diseases or suffer injury in the course of their employment. The High Court analysed one such provision in the case of a senior NHS doctor whose health collapsed after he was bitten by
If you are a tenant planning to run a business from your home, it really is essential to consult a lawyer first. In a case on point, a woman who operated a child-minding enterprise in her flat found herself in unwitting breach of her lease
In the tax and employment fields, the tricky distinction between employment and self-employment has proved immensely controversial. In a guideline case, however, the First-tier Tribunal (FTT) has ruled that part-time professional football referees fall into the latter category. The case concerned a company that was
