Three clients sued their solicitors for negligence in civil litigation matters. The House of Lords was asked whether advocates' immunity from negligence claims should continue. The House unanimously abolished the immunity for civil proceedings, fundamentally changing the law to allow clients to sue negligent advocates. Facts Three separate appeals were...
A child placed in foster care by a local authority was physically and sexually abused by two sets of foster parents. The claimant sued the local authority, which had not been negligent in selecting or supervising the foster parents. The Supreme Court held the local authority vicariously liable for the...
Allied Maples acquired businesses from the Gillow Group but received negligent advice from their solicitors regarding protection against contingent liabilities from assigned leases. The Court of Appeal established that where loss depends on a third party's hypothetical actions, a claimant need only prove a substantial chance of success, with evaluation...
Following the Hillsborough disaster where 95 people died in a stadium crush, relatives and friends of victims claimed damages for psychiatric illness caused by witnessing the events on television or at the ground. The House of Lords dismissed all appeals, establishing that recovery for nervous shock requires proximity in time,...
Anthony Bland was left in a persistent vegetative state after the Hillsborough disaster with no prospect of recovery. The NHS Trust sought declarations permitting discontinuation of artificial feeding. The House of Lords held that withdrawing life-sustaining treatment was lawful where it no longer benefited the patient, as there was no...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
