September 14, 2025
Council tenants' three children died in a house fire when the mother could not open locked windows with removable keys to escape. The claimants sued alleging negligence in window design. The Court of Appeal (majority) dismissed the appeal, holding that installing commonly-used lockable windows was not negligent, applying the Bolam...
September 14, 2025
The claimant's father was diagnosed with Huntington's Disease while she was pregnant. Despite knowing the diagnosis carried a 50% hereditary risk to her, clinicians respected the father's confidentiality wishes and did not inform her. She later discovered she had the disease and sued, arguing the defendants owed her a duty...
September 12, 2025
Veterans of British nuclear tests claimed injuries from radiation exposure. The Supreme Court considered whether their claims were time-barred under the Limitation Act 1980, specifically examining when 'knowledge' of attributability arose for limitation purposes. The majority held that subjective belief could constitute knowledge, dismissing the appeals. Facts Between 1952 and...
September 12, 2025
Parents claimed damages for psychiatric injury after discovering organs had been removed and retained from their deceased children during post-mortems without their knowledge or consent. The court held that while doctors owed a duty of care to explain organ retention possibilities, there is no tort of wrongful interference with a...
September 12, 2025
A child brought privacy proceedings against the Daily Mail for publishing articles revealing her paternity, alleging her father was a prominent politician. The Court of Appeal upheld the trial judge's dismissal of the claim for damages regarding the private information, finding the public interest in the father's recklessness and fitness...
September 11, 2025
Callisher claimed money was owed to him by the Honduras Government and agreed to forbear legal proceedings in exchange for the defendant's promise to deliver bonds. The defendant failed to deliver and argued the original claim was groundless. The court held that forbearance to pursue a bona fide disputed claim...
September 7, 2025
Claimants infected with Hepatitis C from blood transfusions between 1988 and 1991 sued the National Blood Authority under the Consumer Protection Act 1987. The court held that infected blood was a defective product under the EU Product Liability Directive, establishing that consumers were entitled to expect blood free from infection...
September 7, 2025
In 1988 the defendant attempted to rape the claimant and received a life sentence. After his 2004 release he won £7 million on the National Lottery, prompting the claimant to sue for psychiatric injury. Despite a 16‑year delay, the court exercised its section 33 discretion to disapply limitation and allow...
September 7, 2025
Three customers claimed that commissions paid by finance lenders to motor dealers for arranging hire purchase agreements constituted bribes or breaches of fiduciary duty. The Supreme Court held that dealers in typical tripartite car finance transactions do not owe fiduciary duties to customers, dismissing the bribery and equity claims, but...
September 7, 2025
Mr Ruhan, a director of HPII, secretly purchased hotels from HPII through a nominee (Mr Stevens), resold them for £102m profit, then dissipated the funds. The Supreme Court held that a dishonest assistant in dissipating profits held on constructive trust is liable to compensate the beneficiary for the loss, even...
September 7, 2025
Following divorce, the Supreme Court considered whether assets transferred between spouses for inheritance tax planning purposes became 'matrimonial property' subject to sharing. The husband had transferred £80 million to his wife to establish trusts for their children. The Court held that tax planning transfers do not matrimonialise assets unless the...
September 4, 2025
Two appeals challenging sanctions imposed under the Russia (Sanctions) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019 following Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Mr Shvidler, a British citizen, had his assets frozen worldwide due to his association with Roman Abramovich and former directorship of Evraz plc. Dalston Projects' yacht was detained in London. The Supreme...
September 4, 2025
Tom Hayes and Carlo Palombo were convicted of conspiracy to defraud for attempting to manipulate LIBOR and EURIBOR benchmark interest rates to benefit their derivatives trading. The Supreme Court allowed their appeals, finding that trial judges wrongly directed juries that taking account of trading advantage necessarily meant submissions were not...
September 4, 2025
The Information Commissioner appealed against the cumulative approach to assessing qualified exemptions under the Freedom of Information Act 2000. The Supreme Court held that where multiple qualified exemptions apply to requested information, public interest factors against disclosure may be aggregated rather than assessed independently for each exemption. Facts In November...
September 4, 2025
Uber sought a declaration that the Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1976 requires private hire vehicle operators to accept bookings only by entering into hire contracts as principal. The Supreme Court rejected this, holding that section 56(1) is a deeming provision allowing operators to use agency or intermediary models while...
September 4, 2025
Mrs Waller-Edwards remortgaged her home jointly with her partner, partly to discharge his personal debts. She later claimed undue influence. The Supreme Court held that banks are put on inquiry whenever any non-trivial portion of a non-commercial loan serves to discharge one party's debts, requiring independent legal advice. Facts Catherine...
September 4, 2025
Dolphin Drilling Ltd leased a tender support vessel (Borgsten) from a connected party to provide drilling support services and accommodation to offshore workers. HMRC applied a hire cap restricting tax deductions for the lease payments. The Supreme Court held that providing accommodation was an independent use, not incidental to other...
September 4, 2025
A trade mark dispute concerning football boot logos. Iconix, owner of the UMBRO trade marks, sued Dream Pairs for infringement under section 10(2)(b) of the Trade Marks Act 1994. The Supreme Court considered whether post-sale confusion could constitute infringement and the proper approach to assessing similarity between marks. The appeal...
September 2, 2025
Polish authorities sought extradition of the appellant to serve a two-year sentence for fraud offences. The Supreme Court addressed conflicting approaches in the King's Bench Division regarding the relevance of Polish early release provisions to article 8 ECHR proportionality assessments in extradition cases. Facts The Circuit Court in Lodz, Poland...
September 2, 2025
Developer BDW discovered structural defects in residential developments designed by engineer URS. BDW voluntarily carried out remedial works despite claims by homeowners being time-barred. The Supreme Court held BDW could recover costs in negligence, under the Defective Premises Act 1972, and for contribution, rejecting URS's argument that voluntarily incurred losses...
September 2, 2025
A British citizen who travelled to ISIL-controlled Syria with her husband had her citizenship revoked on national security grounds. She appealed against both the deprivation decision and refusal of entry clearance to rejoin her children in the UK. The Supreme Court clarified SIAC's role in reviewing national security assessments, holding...
September 2, 2025
Landowners sought a declaration that section 10(1) of the Dartmoor Commons Act 1985 does not grant the public a right to camp on Dartmoor Commons. The Supreme Court held that 'open-air recreation' includes wild camping, and the words 'on foot and on horseback' describe the means of access, not a...
September 2, 2025
Companies involved in MTIC VAT fraud brought claims against Tradition, a broker, under section 213 of the Insolvency Act 1986 for fraudulent trading and dishonest assistance. The Supreme Court held that section 213 extends beyond company insiders to third parties who knowingly participate in fraudulent business activities, and addressed limitation...
September 2, 2025
Ms Perry was convicted of collecting information likely to be useful to terrorists. She appealed arguing the trial judge misconstrued her defence statement. The Supreme Court held that interpreting the defence statement was a question of fact, not law, and dismissed her appeal against concurrent findings. Facts The appellant, Ms...
September 2, 2025
Following an explosion and fire on the container ship MSC Flaminia caused by dangerous cargo, the shipowner sought damages from the charterer. The Supreme Court considered whether the charterer could limit its liability under the 1976 Convention on Limitation of Liability for Maritime Claims in respect of various costs incurred...
August 25, 2026
National Case Law Archive
August 25, 2026
National Case Law Archive
August 25, 2026
National Case Law Archive