March 10, 2026
Japanese Knotweed spread from council land to claimant’s property before any breach of duty arose. The claimant sought damages for residual diminution in property value. The Supreme Court held the diminution predated the breach, failing the ‘but for’ causation test, and allowed the council’s appeal. Facts The claimant owned a...
March 10, 2026
Viterra sold pulses C&FFO Mundra to Sharp, who failed to pay. After the goods were discharged, warehoused, and customs cleared, Sharp defaulted. The dispute concerned whether damages under the GAFTA Default Clause should be assessed by reference to a notional C&FFO value or the actual ex warehouse value of the...
March 10, 2026
A union representative was suspended for participating in lawful strike action. The Supreme Court held that section 146 TULRCA, which provides no protection against detriments short of dismissal for lawful strike participation, is incompatible with Article 11 ECHR. A declaration of incompatibility was made. Facts Fiona Mercer was employed as...
March 10, 2026
The Supreme Court addressed how to calculate damages for pain, suffering and loss of amenity where a claimant suffers both whiplash and non-whiplash injuries in the same road traffic accident. The Court upheld the approach of adding the statutory tariff amount for whiplash to common law damages for non-whiplash injuries,...
March 10, 2026
Mr Merticariu was convicted in absentia in Romania for burglary. A European Arrest Warrant sought his extradition. The Supreme Court held that section 20(5) of the Extradition Act 2003 requires an actual entitlement to a retrial, not merely a right to apply for one contingent on further findings by the...
March 10, 2026
Mr Bertino was convicted in Italy in his absence for a sexual offence. Italy sought his extradition via a European arrest warrant. The UK Supreme Court held that he had not 'deliberately absented himself from his trial' under section 20(3) of the Extradition Act 2003, as he was unaware of...
March 10, 2026
Lifestyle Equities, owner of UK and EU trade marks for BEVERLY HILLS POLO CLUB, sued Amazon for trade mark infringement through marketing and selling goods bearing identical marks on Amazon's USA website to UK consumers. The Supreme Court held Amazon had targeted UK consumers, constituting infringement. Facts The respondents, Lifestyle...
March 10, 2026
RM, a restricted patient detained under the Mental Health (Northern Ireland) Order 1986, sought discharge from hospital. The Supreme Court addressed whether leave of absence under article 15 is inconsistent with continued detention for treatment. The Court held that article 15 leave can form part of treatment while a patient...
March 10, 2026
Ms Armstead hired a car which was damaged in an accident caused by another driver. The hire agreement required her to pay the hire company for its loss of use during repairs. The Supreme Court held she could recover this sum from the negligent driver's insurer, clarifying that such contractual...
March 10, 2026
Jersey Choice Ltd, a Jersey-based horticultural mail order company, claimed Francovich damages against HM Treasury for allegedly breaching EU law by removing Low Value Consignment Relief from Channel Islands imports only. The Supreme Court dismissed the appeal, holding the measure was a fiscal matter, not customs, and Jersey was a...
March 10, 2026
Stephen Hilland, a prisoner serving a determinate custodial sentence, challenged the Department of Justice's practice of applying different recall tests based on sentence type. DCS prisoners could be recalled for posing a risk of 'harm', while ICS and ECS prisoners required a risk of 'serious harm'. The Supreme Court held...
March 9, 2026
A vessel was seized by Somali pirates in the Gulf of Aden. The shipowner paid ransom and claimed general average contribution from cargo interests. The cargo interests argued charter terms created an insurance code precluding such claims. The Supreme Court held no insurance code existed and cargo interests must contribute...
March 9, 2026
Claimants sought damages for psychiatric illness caused by witnessing deaths of close family members due to allegedly negligent medical treatment. The Supreme Court held that doctors do not owe a duty of care to patients' relatives to protect them from psychiatric harm caused by witnessing death from an untreated condition....
March 9, 2026
Prudential and Silverfleet were in the same VAT group when Silverfleet provided fund management services. Success fees became payable years after Silverfleet left the group. The Supreme Court held VAT was payable on the success fees because, under regulation 90, the chargeable event occurred when fees were invoiced after Silverfleet...
March 8, 2026
A Slovakian national resident in the UK sought the child element of Universal Credit for her son living in Slovakia. She argued EU coordination rules on family benefits should apply. The Supreme Court held the child element is not a separate family benefit but part of the composite UC benefit,...
March 8, 2026
Joint liquidators sued Sheikh Al Jaber for equitable compensation after he dishonestly transferred 891,761 shares owned by a company in liquidation to another entity he controlled. The Supreme Court held that by purporting to exercise directorial powers after liquidation, the Sheikh assumed fiduciary duties and breached them, restoring the trial...
March 8, 2026
An NHS Foundation Trust sought VAT exemption for car parking services at its hospitals, arguing it acted as a public authority under a special legal regime. The Supreme Court held that external guidance combined with a general public law duty to follow it does not constitute a special legal regime...
March 8, 2026
Hotel La Tour Ltd sought to recover VAT on professional fees incurred for selling shares in its subsidiary to fund a new hotel development. The key issue was whether input VAT on costs related to an exempt share sale could be deducted when the proceeds funded taxable economic activities. Facts...
March 8, 2026
A child suffered severe brain injury at birth due to clinical negligence, reducing her life expectancy to 29 years. The Supreme Court overruled Croke v Wiseman, holding that young children can recover 'lost years' damages for pecuniary losses during the years of life lost due to injury, subject to normal...
March 8, 2026
Stone & Rolls Ltd, controlled solely by fraudster Mr Stojevic, sued its auditors Moore Stephens for negligently failing to detect fraud perpetrated through the company against banks. The House of Lords held that the ex turpi causa defence barred the claim as the company was a one-man company where the...
March 8, 2026
Andrew Tinkler, a founder and executive director of Stobart Group Ltd, was dismissed from employment and removed from the board following allegations of breaching fiduciary duties by briefing shareholders against the board and destabilising the company. The court upheld his dismissal, finding serious breaches of duty, but rejected the company's...
March 8, 2026
Standard Chartered Bank paid under a letter of credit relying on falsely dated bills of lading presented by Mr Mehra, Oakprime's managing director. The House of Lords held that contributory negligence is no defence to deceit, and a director who personally commits fraud is personally liable regardless of acting in...
March 8, 2026
Spectrum granted a debenture to National Westminster Bank purporting to create a fixed charge over book debts. The House of Lords held that despite the label, the charge was a floating charge because Spectrum remained free to collect debts and draw on its bank account without restriction. This overruled Siebe...
March 8, 2026
Smithton Ltd (formerly Hobart) sought damages from Mr Naggar, claiming he was a de facto or shadow director and that arrangements for contracts for differences breached section 190 of the Companies Act 2006. The Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal, finding Mr Naggar acted in his capacity as DDI director,...
March 8, 2026
Mr Smith sought to pursue claims against solicitors on behalf of a company (SPDL) after purportedly assigning the company's causes of action to himself at an inquorate board meeting he alone attended. The Court of Appeal considered whether section 35A of the Companies Act 1985 could validate such a transaction...
August 30, 2026
National Case Law Archive
August 25, 2026
National Case Law Archive
August 25, 2026
National Case Law Archive