Disciplinary hearings are always arduous; however an Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) ruling has emphasised that wise employers will keep them as stress free as possible. Where the first day of a hearing lasted more than 10 hours, the EAT found that this was itself a
The creator of the classic 1980s children’s programme, Button Moon, has triumphed in breach of copyright and passing off claims against a businessman who sold a range of t-shirts and mugs bearing strikingly similar designs. The Patents County Court granted artist, writer and puppeteer, Ian
In dismissing a breach of privacy action in respect of press reports of a prominent politician’s alleged paternity of a three-year-old girl (AAA) following an adulterous affair, the Court of Appeal has given important guidance on the correct balance to be struck between individual rights
The High Court has opened the way for a new Oxford-Bicester railway line which will pass within about a kilometre of the Oxford Meadows special conservation area. A campaigner’s plea that an insufficiently precautionary approach had been taken to the protection of the meadows’ habitats
In a ruling which re-asserts the maxim that no one should be compensated for the consequences of their own criminal act, a thief who sued his accomplice after he was catastrophically injured in a fall from the back of their getaway vehicle has had his
Mesothelioma sufferers who cannot trace their former employers or employers’ insurers will be able to claim compensation once a new Bill has been enacted. The Mesothelioma Bill will create a compensation fund to be financed by employers’ liability insurers and will come to the aid
An NHS worker who was ultimately made redundant following a serious deterioration in her sight is due substantial compensation after the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) ruled that her employers failed to make reasonable adjustments to cater for her disability and that discrimination contributed to her
In an important ruling for landowners and countryside campaigners, motorcyclists and off-road vehicle enthusiasts have scored a major success in their fight to open up five Dorset ‘green lanes’ to motorised traffic. The Court of Appeal ruled that Dorset County Council had not been justified
HM Revenue and Customs have announced that they now have details of more than 100 UK resident beneficiaries of trusts and company arrangements in offshore tax havens and the more than 200 tax advisors responsible for setting them up. The data received concerns tax avoidance
The operators of a children’s nursery which was issued with a ‘notice to improve’ by education regulator Ofsted after pre-school age children were left inadequately supervised for five minutes has failed in a challenge to the decision. The High Court ruled that the notice was
