In an important case for educational institutions, a college is in line for a bumper tax rebate after convincing the Upper Tribunal (UT) that haute cuisine served at its top quality in-house restaurant, run by catering and hospitality students, is exempt from VAT. MJ’s restaurant,
In refusing to increase a £6,000 damages pay-out awarded to an Army chef after he was called a ‘dumb black b***ard’ by a sergeant, the Court of Appeal has underlined the importance of public perception and that victims of race discrimination must not be seen
In a case which gives useful guidance on the limitations of the scope of the equality duties owed by public authorities, a disability campaigner, who said that she would be effectively exiled from Colchester’s main shopping area if blue badge parking bays were dispensed with,
In a sad example of a family-orientated corporate structure proving anything but a panacea, the High Court has ordered the winding up of a farming company due to the inability of its directors – three sisters – to put aside their personal animosity in the
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
