A recent case illustrates the sort of unanticipated problem that can arise as a result of owning property abroad. The case involved an English man who owned a property in Brittany. He was in receipt of social security benefits – in particular,...

A total of £75,000 has been awarded in compensation to six people who fell and were injured whilst enjoying a night out at a Council-run nightclub. The clubbers had all attended special theme nights at the club in Wolverhampton Civic Hall. The...

An easement (such as a right of way) is a right over someone else’s land. A right of easement, once granted, is quite often forgotten about. However, a recent case shows how important it can be to make sure that an easement does not lapse through...

Firms that offer vouchers to employees in exchange for salary sacrifices may face a VAT charge, following a recent opinion of the Advocate General of the European Court of Justice (ECJ). It involved AstraZeneca, which had given employees vouchers in...

In a recent case , the executors of a woman's estate have been ruled to be liable for Inheritance Tax (IHT) on the value of her pension fund, after she failed to take her pension when she was terminally ill. The woman was diagnosed with cancer five months...

The family of a man who died of an asbestos-related disease has secured a settlement of £57,500. John Scott, who was 76 when he died of mesothelioma, had worked as a foreman and electrician for the Atomic Energy Authority for almost forty years until...

The principle that British persons divorced abroad can look to the courts in England and Wales to ensure that their ‘reasonable needs’ are met in the divorce settlement has been firmly established following a recent case involving a divorced...

Musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) are the most common occupational illness in Britain. They include problems such as low back pain, joint injuries and repetitive strain injuries of various sorts, and affect more than 500,000 people every year. They are often...

The comedian Jimmy Carr was recently successful in using a loophole in the law to avoid a fine for using a mobile phone whilst driving. The argument was based on the fact that he was using his mobile phone as a dictating machine, rather than as a...

An argument over a narrow strip of land has left a mother and son facing massive costs after their case was heard in the Court of Appeal recently. The dispute arose because their neighbour wanted to put up a fence on what he considered to be the dividing...

A pedestrian who was hurt in a road accident in East London has won the right to compensation from Newham Council because it failed to trim the shrubs in the middle of a busy road. Mrs Pervin Yetkin, 54, was attempting to cross Stratford High Street when...

Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) has ruled that the Employment Tribunal (ET) had no jurisdiction to refuse to accept a claimant’s ET1 claim form, on the ground that it found some of the handwriting illegible, because the form did contain the required...

The problems which can arise when there is an intestate estate that involves business assets were made clear recently when the High Court had to rule on a complex claim relating back to a death that occurred many years ago. At stake was a share in a farm,...

It is often thought that, when couples live together, they have similar rights to those who are married or in a civil partnership. However, this is far from the truth, as a barrister found out recently when she lost her case in the High Court . The...

Litigation can be expensive and there are good reasons in many cases for achieving a resolution by mediation when possible. The best course of action will depend on the individual circumstances of the case. Recently, a court case was settled after a...

After a seven-year legal battle, a college lecturer has won compensation after delays in his medical treatment left him paralysed. Tim Joplin, 58, an artist and lecturer at Dudley College, was admitted to Russells Hall Hospital with pain in his shoulder and...

The Court of Appeal has ruled that a man who knew that he and his daughter were about to become homeless, and who wrote to the council seeking its assistance in obtaining accommodation, had done enough to trigger the council’s obligation to provide...

When someone breaches a confidence and uses confidential information to make a profit, one of the legal remedies which may be sought is to require the person committing the breach to account for the profit made as a result. In a recent case , two...

HM Revenue and Customs have announced that non-UK resident persons who remained in the UK due to disruption of their travel plans because of the volcanic ash cloud and who, as a result, spent more than 90 days in the UK at one time, will not be treated as...

A woman who was left paralysed after a tragic fairground accident has secured compensation of £35,000 from the company responsible testing the equipment. She is also pursuing further claims to compensate her for her injuries. Jessica Oseland, 28, was...

The Court of Appeal has ruled in a case which establishes an important precedent for the setting of fines for breaches of environmental law. Thames Water had appealed against a fine of £125,000 for a mistake which had led to pollution of the river...

Employers should be aware that problems may arise during major sporting events as a result of employees supporting different national teams. In a recent case , a woman claimed that remarks made to her by a colleague during the 2006 FIFA World Cup amounted...

In many countries, bribery and corruption are commonplace. IKEA recently ceased its expansion in Russia, for example, because of the difficulties in obtaining permission to build new stores without being willing to engage in corrupt practices....

A will made two months before the death of an elderly woman has been set aside by the High Court after it heard evidence that by 2006, when the new will was made, she was ‘seriously losing her grip’. The new will left the woman’s entire...

Breach of copyright on the Internet is relatively common, but it is still a breach of the law and one for which there is no defence based on ignorance. Copyright is an absolute right, which arises automatically. Nothing has to be done to obtain it: it arises...