In ruling that the services which the BBC provided to the Open University (OU) over a period of more than 16 years were exempt from VAT, a tax tribunal has proclaimed the broadcaster’s independence from government and its public educational value. Between 1978 and 1994,
City dwellers who are disturbed by ‘party venues’ sprouting around them can take comfort from a guideline High Court decision which reinforced the powers of local authorities to quell noise nuisance and late night drinking. A restaurateur had turned his premises into a drinking establishment
The threat of copying is an ever-present one for product designers but copyright laws are a powerful tool which can be used to protect their original thoughts. In one case, the designer of a novel range of bone china tableware won more than £30,000 in
A businessman who invested £50,000 in a hi-tech company without any kind of formal contractual protection has failed to convince the High Court that he was entitled to a stake in the company. He argued that he was to receive a ‘reasonable shareholding’ in the
Fraud in the workplace can be very hard to detect – particularly where trusted senior managers are involved. In one case, the chief financial officer of a leading media company treated it as his personal piggy-bank, helping himself to about £227,000. The man was jailed
Intricate commercial relationships frequently spawn equally complex contractual arrangements. However, as one Court of Appeal case illustrated, imperfect drafting can lead to difficulties where the order of precedence of different agreements is unclear and their terms apparently conflict. A dispute arose following the breakdown of
Josiah Hincks Solicitors are delighted to announce that Sandra Danaher will become an Associate Solicitors with effect from 1st June 2015. Sandra is a specialist Trusts and Estates Solicitor and deals with matters from Wills, Powers of Attorneys, Probate along with more complicated trusts and
Almost nothing is more distressing than squatters making free with your property – however, the law is no longer as weighted in favour of trespassers as it once was. One squatter who moved into a seaside flat and caused £20,000 worth of damage found that
Different uses of land can sometimes be like oil and water, and that was certainly so in a case where a clash between shooting and equestrianism triggered a long-running and costly rights of way dispute between rural neighbours. A couple had built a state-of-the-art equestrian
Any good law firm will advise its clients to compromise if possible, rather than fight their differences out in court. In one case, the High Court lamented that a relatively low value contract dispute ended up being litigated on a grand scale, resulting in legal
