There is nothing at all wrong with fierce competition – but a pharmaceutical company was accused of seriously over-stepping the mark by circulating an anonymous letter criticising a trade rival, and ended up having to pay £60,000 in libel damages. The company was alleged to
Oral contracts are notoriously fraught with legal difficulty and it is always wise to get a solicitor to accurately record in writing the agreements that you reach. One property company found that out to its cost in a telling High Court case. The company specialised
It is not unusual for there to be very substantial differences in the financial resources available to opposing sides in litigation. However, one family case involving a hugely rich father and the mother of his child, who had no money of her own, showed that
Four black Royal Mail employees who claimed that they had been victimised due to their race and treated less favourably than a white colleague have had their hopes of winning compensation boosted by the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT). The four long-serving workers, all of them
Local authorities have wide powers to restrict public access to buildings or structures which they consider dangerous. However, a Supreme Court case involving closure of a seaside town’s crumbling pier underlined that those who suffer loss of trade as a result of such emergency action
Sharp practices and deceit are sadly not uncommon in commerce – but one Court of Appeal case involving numerous shipments of mis-described crude oil showed that the law can catch up with perpetrators no matter how long after the event the truth emerges. The case
In the context of a flat-building project in central London, a High Court ruling has underlined that it is perfectly acceptable for local authorities to require would-be developers to invest in community facilities as part of the planning process. A council granted planning consent for
If you lie to your insurers, they generally have every right to refuse to cover any claim that you might make. However, in a ground-breaking decision, the Supreme Court has ruled in the context of a shipping case that the right to repudiate liability does
Protecting the environment is a top government priority and those who break the law can expect to be severely punished. In one case, directors of a waste composting company which went bust, leaving piles of rotting waste for others to clear up, were handed suspended
In a wake-up call to any unwise employers who might view health and safety rules as little more than an inconvenience, a farming equipment company was heavily fined after an employee was badly injured by an exploding tyre. The company pleaded guilty to an offence
