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Are Adjustments that Disadvantage Non-Disabled Employees Reasonable?

Are employers obliged to make reasonable adjustments to cater for the particular needs of disabled employees where to do so would cause disadvantage to their non-disabled colleagues? That issue was addressed by the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) in a...

NHS England Agrees to Suspension of £140 Million Procurement Exercise

Legal challenges by losing tenderers to the outcome of public procurement exercises are relatively common, but it is very much rarer for a judge to be asked to nip such an exercise in the bud. That, however, is exactly what happened in a case concerning NHS...

You Are Obliged Reasonably to Provide for Your Dependants in Your Will - No More

When making a will, it is vital to remember your obligations to family members and others who depend upon you financially. As a High Court ruling showed , however, your duty is to make reasonable provision for them – no more. The case concerned a...

High Court Gives Effect to French Marriage Contract in Big Money Divorce

When spouses each make valuable contributions to a long marriage, the general rule is that marital assets should be divided equally in the event of divorce. As an unusual High Court ruling concerning the validity of a French marriage contract showed,...

Heritage Assets - High Court Quashes Apartment Block Planning Permission

The importance that planning policy gives to the preservation of heritage assets was underlined by a High Court case in which planning consent for a controversial high-rise apartment block in an iconic riverside location was overturned. The relevant site...

Shareholders Relieved of Income Tax Liability on Dividends that Went Unpaid

Shareholders are obviously liable to pay Income Tax on their dividends, but what if a declared dividend is not – and, in reality, never will be – paid? A tax tribunal pondered that issue in a case concerning an otherwise successful property...

Length of Service Redundancy Criteria Ageist, ET Rules

A redundancy process that includes length of service or seniority as a selection criterion is always likely to be vulnerable to challenge on ageism grounds. In one case, an international travel operator fell into precisely that trap ( Irving v TUI Airways...

High Court Aids Company Facing $6.8 Million Ransomware Demand

Even the most sophisticated companies can fall victim to ransomware and online blackmail. However, as a High Court ruling showed, judges have a formidable arsenal of powers to tackle such abuse and are on duty day and night. The case concerned a company...

Increase in Rainfall Looms Large in High Court Neighbours' Dispute

In a head-turning decision, the High Court has acknowledged that increased rainfall arising from environmental changes was one cause of excess seepage of water from a landowner's field into a neighbouring domestic garden. The garden owner sought an...

High Court Orders Summary Enforcement of £22 Million Adjudication Award

Judges take a robust approach to enforcing contract adjudicators' decisions and will only overturn them if they have been made in excess of jurisdiction or in serious breach of the rules of natural justice. The High Court made that point in a case...

Running a Business from Home? Are You Sure You're Allowed To?

With many more people running businesses from home in a post-COVID-19 world, the spotlight has inevitably fallen on commonplace restrictions on the use to which domestic premises can lawfully be put. In a case on point, a couple required a tribunal's...

VAT on Hospital Car Parking and Distortion of Competition - Test Case Ruling

Should NHS trusts be permitted to provide VAT-free parking to patients, staff and visitors, or would that amount to an impermissible distortion of competition? With around £70 million in tax at stake, the Upper Tribunal (UT) has decisively answered...

Solicitor's Evidence Decisive in Resolving Bitter Family Inheritance Dispute

Taking legal advice when making your will is more than likely to reap dividends after you are gone. In one case, a solicitor's wholly reliable evidence proved decisive in resolving an extraordinarily bitter family inheritance dispute . By his final will, a...

Trespass - Judge Identifies Perpetrators of Vast Waste Dumping Operation

Waste dumping scars the landscape but it can be very hard to identify perpetrators, who commonly take steps to cover their tracks. In one case, however, a judge was able to pinpoint those responsible for depositing close to 20 tonnes of waste in a disused...

Foreign Surrogacy Arrangements - High Court Underlines the Hazards

Delays in surrogacy treatment in England may be long but, as a High Court ruling showed , those who look abroad to fulfil their desire for parenthood may well be placing their own and their children's legal status at risk. The case concerned a same-sex...

High Street Retailer's Insolvency Triggers Guideline TUPE Ruling

When one company acquires all or part of the assets of another, is the former legally obliged to take on the latter's employees on the same terms as before? That issue was the focus of an important Employment Tribunal (ET) case arising from the insolvency of...

You Are Entitled to Rely on Ostensibly Competent Professional Tax Advice

When it comes to tax matters, there is a tendency for fiscally inexperienced people to simply sign whatever documents their accountants put in front of them. That can be a risky approach but, as a First-tier Tribunal (FTT) ruling showed, there is often an...

The Sticky Story of Paddington Bear and the Royalty Distribution Litigation

When Paddington Bear took tea with Her Late Majesty the Queen during her platinum jubilee celebrations, a developing High Court dispute concerning the proper interpretation of a clause in a royalty distribution agreement (RDA) is unlikely to have featured...

Residents Blighted by Noise Nuisance Granted High Court Abatement Order

If the tranquillity of your home is blighted by noise or any other form of nuisance, you don't have to just grin and bear it. In a case on point, the High Court came to the aid of residents who said that their lives were rendered a sleepless purgatory by...

Property Guardianship Agreement Proves Fraught with Legal Difficulty

It is increasingly commonplace for owners of vacant commercial buildings to permit their occupation by so-called 'property guardians' with a view to protecting them from squatters and vandals. As an Upper Tribunal (UT) ruling showed , however, such...
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