Compensation awards to clinical negligence victims may sometimes appear eye-wateringly large – but, with the ever-increasing cost of professional care, they are never any more than is needed. That was certainly so in one case, in which a six-year old boy won a record payout from
In a decision of importance to landlords, particularly of student accommodation, the Supreme Court has ruled that conditions attached to licences granted in respect of houses in multiple occupation (HMOs) can stipulate classes of persons who are considered suitable to occupy them. The case concerned
Can non-negotiable gambling chips (NGCs) that are given away to favoured punters by casinos be seen as money or money’s worth? By answering that question in the negative, the Court of Appeal saved the gaming industry millions in tax. A company that owned a number
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
