In a case which succinctly encapsulated the current state of the law on the vicarious liability of employers, an innocent customer who was savagely attacked by a petrol kiosk attendant on a supermarket forecourt has received the Court of Appeal’s ‘natural sympathy’ – but not
In the context of Council Tax, the High Court has emphasised that it is the physical characteristics of premises, not the intention of their owners, that is decisive when it comes to assessing whether they constitute self-contained living accommodation. The case concerned a garage, attached
In an important test case for the finance and insurance industries, the High Court is being asked to define what is meant by a ‘consumer’ as insurance brokers challenge the jurisdiction of the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) to consider a complaint made against them by
A couple who waged a ‘campaign of visceral vilification’ against an elderly neighbour who defied them in a dispute over a right of way and a 12-inch-wide strip of garden have been ordered to pay her more than £36,000 damages for harassment and the five
Following a recent Court of Appeal decision in its favour, HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) have announced that they will be seeking to recover repayments of VAT given to gaming machine operators between November 1998 and December 2005. Many gaming machine operators were given refunds
Victims of extravagant claims made by sales personnel can take encouragement from a case in which an accountant who was duped into ploughing money into a disastrous tax avoidance scheme won back more than £230,000 from a saleswoman who convinced him with her slick Power
In upholding a black road sweeper’s race discrimination complaint, the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) has given authoritative guidance on the recurrently thorny issue as to the circumstances in which it is appropriate to infer discrimination and to reverse the burden of proof against employers. The
In an important decision for developers, a planning inspector’s decision that the lack of affordable homes in the City of York was trumped by the even more acute need for a greater supply of housing land has been upheld by the High Court. In granting
A Government consultation which closed last December has led to proposals that will allow providers of social housing to charge their better-off tenants market rent for their properties. The proposals are intended to come into effect in April 2015 and will no doubt attract much
The owner of a group of entertainment venues which trade as ‘the Glee Club’ has been successful in its claim that the successful US television ‘Glee’ has infringed its trade mark, which was registered in 1999. The Club also group claimed that Glee Club had
