Tag: Torts – Other

Ndole Assets Ltd v Designer M and E Services Uk Ltd: TCC 18 May 2017

The defendant sought a declaration that the Claim Form and the Particulars of Claim were not properly served, alternatively that the claim should be struck out because of invalid or ineffectual service. Further, Designer sought summary judgment against the claimant because the claim was brought by Ndole as assignees, and it was said that the circumstances of the assignments meant that the claim should be dismissed on grounds of maintenance/champerty.

Judges:

Coulson J

Citations:

[2017] EWHC 1148 (TCC)

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Litigation Practice, Contract, Torts – Other

Updated: 26 March 2022; Ref: scu.583983

Adorian v Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis: QBD 19 May 2008

Claim for damages for assault during arrest. It became necessary for the claimant to issue proceedings very quickly after the decision in Hoare, and he failed to obtain consent under the 2003 Act before issuing his claim.
Held: The requirement to obtain consent before issuing proceedings was procedural only.

Judges:

Owen J

Citations:

[2008] EWHC 1081 (QB)

Links:

Bailii

Statutes:

Criminal Justice Act 2003 329

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Appeal from – Adorian v The Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis CA 23-Jan-2009
The claimant received injuries when arrested. He was later convicted of resisting arrest. The defendant relied on section 329 of the 2003 Act. The claimant said that the force used against him was grossly disproportionate. The commissioner appealed . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Police, Torts – Other

Updated: 26 March 2022; Ref: scu.268688

Akita Holdings Ltd v The Honourable Attorney General of The Turks and Caicos Islands: PC 27 Mar 2017

(Turks and Caicos Islands) This appeal concerns the remedies available against a knowing recipient of property acquired at an undervalue from the government by a minister acting in breach of his fiduciary duty.

Judges:

Lord Neuberger, Lord Kerr, Lord Sumption, Lord Reed, Lord Carnwath

Citations:

[2017] UKPC 7, [2017] 2 WLR 1153, [2017] WLR(D) 216

Links:

Bailii, WLRD

Jurisdiction:

Commonwealth

Torts – Other, Trusts

Updated: 24 March 2022; Ref: scu.581724

Kajuga, Regina (on The Application of) v Secretary of State for The Home Department: CA 5 Apr 2017

Appeal from dismissal of application for a declaration that the claimant had been unlawfully detained by the UK immigration authorities between 10 November 2011 and 22 March 2012.

Judges:

McFarlane, Flaux LJJ

Citations:

[2017] EWCA Civ 240

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Torts – Other, Immigration

Updated: 24 March 2022; Ref: scu.581431

Inter Export Llc v Townley and Another: ChD 17 Mar 2017

Alleged failure by a company (‘NTL’) to pay the sum of US$1,203,099 to the claimant, a Ukrainian company, for a consignment of 1,028.29 metric tonnes of sunflower oil. The oil was delivered to a Ukrainian port, Berdyansk Commercial Port, by the claimant and then exported out of BCP by NTL. NTL was in the business of buying and selling commodities, principally sunflower seed oil and steel pipes. The claimant underwent an arbitration in Ukraine in respect of the cargo of oil against NTL, which is in liquidation, but now sues a director (the second defendant) and shareholders (both defendants) of NTL directly in fraud. The claimant says the first defendant is a shadow or de facto director of NTL.

Judges:

Proudman J

Citations:

[2017] EWHC 530 (Ch)

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Torts – Other, Contract

Updated: 24 March 2022; Ref: scu.581329

Balkanbank v Naser Taher and Others: QBD 13 Feb 1995

The plaintiff had obtained a worldwide Mareva injunction, giving an undertaking for damages. On its discharge, the defendants sought to make a counterclaim. The defendant company and its subsidiaries sought to counterclaim for their damages suffered as a result of the injunction. The Irish court had ordered an enquiry as to the damages. The counterclaim now additionally pleaded torts of malicious prosecution against the plaintiff. The defendant sought to add as defendants in the original claim (and claimants in the counterclaim) subsidiary companies which had also suffered as a result of the injunction.
Held: The English court had jurisdiction to entertain the counterclaim relating to an alleged breach of the joint venture agreement under which the original injunction had been granted. It was desirable that the additional defendants should be joined to avoid a multiplicity of proceedings, and the claims fell within RSC15.6 after it had been extended following Vendervell Trustees. The remedy under a counterclaim might also be available to the company’s subsidiaries. It was said that a claimant (the additional defendants here) could not pursue a claim of civil malicious prosecution where they were not parties to the original claim. It was arguable that a tort of malicious prosecution of a civil action could succeed and it should go ahead, with the defendants joined in as claimants under the counterclaim. The claim for abuse of process should also proceed to trial.

Judges:

Clarke J

Citations:

Times 14-Apr-1995, [1995] 1 WLR 1067

Citing:

Cited – Vendervell Trustees Ltd v White HL 1971
If the dispute could be adjudicated in the absence of a party and where no order was sought against that party, joinder was unnecessary and generally not allowed.
Order 15 Rule 13 requires that the presence of the party to be joined is . .
Cited – Tetra Molectric Limited v Japan Imports Limited CA 1976
The court had allowed another company to be added as respondent to an appeal by a plaintiff against the judge’s decision against a patent’s validity. ‘Sub-paragraph (ii) of paragraph (b) widens the discretion of the court to a great extent, for now . .
Cited – Montgomery v Foy, Morgan and Co 1895
The case of Norrois v Beazley was criticised as too narrow an interpretation of the rules. The court decsribed ‘one of the great objects of the Judicature Acts, namely that where there is one subject matter out of which several disputes arise, all . .
Cited – Norris v Beazley 1877
A person could not be added to a claim as defendant where the plaintiff has no claim against him and no wish to join him. . .
See also – Balkanbank v Taher and Others (No 2) CA 18-Nov-1994
The plaintiffs had sued in Ireland and obtained a Mareva injunction. That injunction was then first extended to a worldwide injunction, before being set aside. The court could itself to enquire as to damages without deciding whether to enforce the . .
Cited – Union Bank of the Middle East Ltd v Clapham CA 15-Jul-1981
The bank having sued the defendant under a guarantee, the defendant sought to join in the principal debtor company to pursue a counterclaim. The defendant appealed a refusal on the ground that the principal would not itself have been given leave to . .
Cited – Gurtner v Circuit CA 1968
The Court described the gap in provision for the recovery of damages for injury where the driver of a vehicle was uninsured: ‘if (a) the defendant was not insured at the time of the accident or (b) his policy of insurance was avoided in the . .
Cited – Amon v Raphael Tuck and Sons Ltd 1956
The court analysed the circumstances under which additional parties might be joined to an action by a defendant, applying a narrow interpretation. The court considered whether a defendant may be added against the parties’ wishes: ‘There are two . .
Cited – Atid Navigation Co Ltd v Towage and Shipping Co Ltd 1955
The judge refused to allow an additional party to be joined to an action to pursue a counterclaim. The issues between the present parties could ‘perfectly well be decided’ without the additional party. . .
Cited – Pender v Taddei CA 22-Apr-1898
At first instance the defendant had been refused permission to join in another party (Bellani) who was a joint contractor, as a defendant to the counterclaim.
Held: The appeal failed. . .
Cited – Metal und Rohstoff AG v Donaldson Lufkin and Jenrette Inc CA 27-Jan-1989
The claimants sued for negligent advice and secured judgment. The defendant company became insolvent, and so the plaintiff now sued the US parent company alleging conspiracy. The court considered a tort of malicious prosecution of a civil claim, . .
Cited – Speed Seal Ltd v Paddington CA 1985
The court was asked whether the defendant should be permitted to add to his pleadings a counterclaim asserting that the action was brought in bad faith for the ulterior motive of damaging the defendants’ business, and not for the protection of any . .
Cited – Goldsmith v Sperrings Ltd CA 1977
Claims for Collateral Purpose treated as abuse
The plaintiff commenced proceedings for damages for libel and an injunction against the publishers, the editors and the main distributors of Private Eye. In addition, he issued writs against a large number of other wholesale and retail distributors . .
See Also – Balkanbank v Taher and Others 19-Feb-1994
Disclosure of legal advice. . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Torts – Other, Company

Updated: 23 March 2022; Ref: scu.78113

Robinson v National Bank of Scotland: HL 10 Apr 1916

The pursuer claimed for false and fraudulent misrepresentation againt his bankers.
Held: A duty of care is not only owed in cases of fiduciary relationship in the narrow sense of relationships which had been recognised by the court of Chancery as being of a fiduciary character. There are other special relationships.

Judges:

Lord Haldane, Earl Loreburn

Citations:

[1916] SC (HL) 154, [1916] UKHL 4, 1916 1 SLT 336

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Explained – Nocton v Lord Ashburton HL 19-Jun-1914
The defendant solicitor had persuaded his client to release a charge, thus advancing the solicitor’s own subsequent charge on the same property. The action was started in the Chancery Division of the High Court. The statement of claim alleged fraud . .
Cited – Derry v Peek HL 1-Jul-1889
The House heard an action for damages for deceit or fraudulent misrepresentation.
Held: The court set out the requirements for fraud, saying that fraud is proved when it is shown that a false representation has been made knowingly or without . .

Cited by:

Cited – Hedley Byrne and Co Ltd v Heller and Partners Ltd HL 28-May-1963
Banker’s Liability for Negligent Reference
The appellants were advertising agents. They were liable themselves for advertising space taken for a client, and had sought a financial reference from the defendant bankers to the client. The reference was negligent, but the bankers denied any . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Scotland, Negligence, Torts – Other, Banking

Updated: 11 February 2022; Ref: scu.216365

AAA and Others v Unilever Plc and Another: CA 4 Jul 2018

Sales LJ said: ‘There is no special doctrine in the law of tort of legal responsibility on the part of a parent company in relation to the activities of its subsidiary, vis-a-vis persons affected by those activities. Parent and subsidiary are separate legal persons, each with responsibility for their own separate activities. A parent company will only be found to be subject to a duty of care in relation to an activity of its subsidiary if ordinary, general principles of the law of tort regarding the imposition of a duty of care on the part of the parent in favour of a claimant are satisfied in the particular case. The legal principles are the same as would apply in relation to the question whether any third party (such as a consultant giving advice to the subsidiary) was subject to a duty of care in tort owed to a claimant dealing with the subsidiary. Helpful guidance as to relevant considerations was given in Chandler v Cape plc; but that case did not lay down a separate test, distinct from general principle, for the imposition of a duty of care in relation to a parent company.’ and ‘Although the legal principles are the same, it may be that on the facts of a particular case a parent company, having greater scope to intervene in the affairs of its subsidiary than another third party might have, has taken action of a kind which is capable of meeting the relevant test for imposition of a duty of care in respect of the parent.’

Judges:

Lady Justice Gloster
Lord Justice Sales
And
Lord Justice Newey

Citations:

[2018] EWCA Civ 1532

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Cited by:

Cited – Vedanta Resources Plc and Another v Lungowe and Others SC 10-Apr-2019
The claimants alleged negligence causing them personal injury and other losses arising from pollution from mining operations of the defendants in Zambia. The company denied jurisdiction. In the Court of Appeal the defendants’ appeals were dismissed. . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Torts – Other, International

Updated: 30 January 2022; Ref: scu.618967

Ogale Community and Others v Royal Dutch Shell Plc and Another: CA 14 Feb 2018

The claimants sought damages after widescale historic damage to areas of Nigeria by subsidiaries of the defendant. The defendant said that the court did not have jurisdiction to hear such a claim.
Held: The claimants had not established the existence of a duty of care in the respondent, and the case would be bound to fail.

Judges:

Sir Geoffrey Vos CH, Sales, Simon LJJ

Citations:

[2018] EWCA Civ 191, [2018] WLR(D) 92, [2018] Bus LR 1022

Links:

Bailii, WLRD

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

At FTT – HRH Emere Godwin Bebe Okpabi and Others v Royal Dutch Shell Plc and Another TCC 26-Jan-2017
Claims for damages arising from failures in oil pipeline management in Nigeria. . .

Cited by:

Appeal from (CA) – Okpabi and Others v Royal Dutch Shell Plc and Another SC 12-Feb-2021
. .
Cited – Vedanta Resources Plc and Another v Lungowe and Others SC 10-Apr-2019
The claimants alleged negligence causing them personal injury and other losses arising from pollution from mining operations of the defendants in Zambia. The company denied jurisdiction. In the Court of Appeal the defendants’ appeals were dismissed. . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Environment, Torts – Other, Negligence

Updated: 30 January 2022; Ref: scu.605187

Jomast Accommodation Ltd v G4S Care and Justice Services (UK) Ltd: ChD 9 Feb 2017

Assorted claims for breach of contract and fraudulent misrepresentation in sub-contract for provision of accomodation to asylum seekers.

Judges:

Lesley Anderson QC

Citations:

[2017] EWHC 200 (Ch)

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Contract, Torts – Other

Updated: 29 January 2022; Ref: scu.574095

Kimathi and Others v The Foreign and Commonwealth Office: QBD 9 Feb 2017

Application notice seeking an order that certain issues be listed for hearing as a preliminary point.

Judges:

Stewart J

Citations:

[2017] EWHC 203 (QB)

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

See Also – Kimathi and Others v The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Strike out) QBD 24-Nov-2016
The defendant sought to have struck out from the group litigation, as a nullity the claim by one claimant who had been deceased at the time of issue. His PRs responded that the court could deal with the matter under CPR Pt 3.
Held: The court’s . .
See Also – Kimathi and Others v The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Cross examination request) QBD 24-Nov-2016
Application to cross examine translators of claimant witness statements. . .

Cited by:

See Also – Kimathi and Others v The Foreign and Commonwealth Office QBD 28-Mar-2018
Claim as to allegations of abuse in Kenya in the 1950s. . .
See Also – Kimathi and Others v The Foreign and Commonwealth Office QBD 18-Apr-2018
Continued dispute as to admissibility of certain documents . .
See Also – Kimathi and Others v The Foreign and Commonwealth Office QBD 9-May-2018
Admissibility of extracts from Hansard . .
See Also – Kimathi and Others v The Foreign and Commonwealth Office QBD 24-May-2018
The Claimants claimed damages against the Defendant for alleged abuses arising during the course of the Kenyan Emergency during the 1950s. . .
See Also – Kimathi and Others v The Foreign and Commonwealth Office QBD 2-Aug-2018
Allegations of abuse by persons for whose conduct it is alleged the Defendant is liable, arising out of the Kenyan Emergency. . .
See Also – Kimathi and Others v The Foreign and Commonwealth Office QBD 21-Nov-2018
. .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Torts – Other, Litigation Practice

Updated: 29 January 2022; Ref: scu.574093

Lungowe and Others v Vedanta Resources Plc and Another: CA 13 Oct 2017

Appeal against jurisdiction order

Judges:

Jackson, Simon, Asplin LJJ

Citations:

[2017] EWCA Civ 1528, [2017] BCC 787, [2018] 1 WLR 3575, [2017] WLR(D) 741

Links:

Bailii, WLRD

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Appeal from – Lungowe and Others v Vedanta Resources Plc and Another TCC 27-May-2016
‘The claimants are 1,826 Zambian citizens who are residents of four communities (Shimulala, Hellen, Kakosa and Hippo Pool) in the Chingola region of Zambia. On 31 July 2015, they commenced these proceedings alleging personal injury, damage to . .

Cited by:

Appeal from – Vedanta Resources Plc and Another v Lungowe and Others SC 10-Apr-2019
The claimants alleged negligence causing them personal injury and other losses arising from pollution from mining operations of the defendants in Zambia. The company denied jurisdiction. . .
See Also – Lungowe v Vedanta Resources Plc and Others TCC 27-Mar-2020
. .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Personal Injury, Torts – Other, Jurisdiction

Updated: 29 January 2022; Ref: scu.596092

DZ (Eritrea), Regina (on The Application of) v The Secretary of State for The Home Department: CA 19 Jan 2017

Appeal against rejection of claim for unlawful immigration detention.

Judges:

Gloster VP CA, David Richards LJJ, Sir Stephen Tomlinson

Citations:

[2017] EWCA Civ 14

Links:

Bailii

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Immigration, Torts – Other

Updated: 29 January 2022; Ref: scu.573607

Ashley and Another v Sussex Police: CA 27 Jul 2006

The deceased was shot by police officers raiding his flat in 1998. The claimants sought damages for his estate. They had succeeded in claiming damages for false imprisonment, but now appealed dismissal of their claim for damages for assault and misfeasance. The judge below had accepted that the officer had acted in self-defence, and entered summary judgment against the claimants.
Held: The appeal succeeded. The burden of proving self-defence is on the defendant. The principles of the criminal law and the civil law have diverged in this area. In a civil case the defendant has to show that his mistaken belief is genuine, not that it was reasonable: ‘i) In criminal proceedings the burden of negativing self-defence is on the prosecution. By contrast, in civil proceedings the burden is on the defendant to establish self-defence.
ii) In criminal proceedings a defendant who mistakenly but honestly believes that it is necessary to act in self-defence is entitled to be judged on the basis that his mistaken belief is true. By contrast, in civil proceedings, his belief must be both honestly and reasonably held.
iii) In both criminal and civil proceedings, action taken in self-defence must be reasonable but, in judging what is reasonable, the court must have regard to all the circumstances of the case, including the fact that the action may have to be taken in the heat of the moment.’
As to the allegations of misfeasance in the coduct of the investigation, the claimants did not need to establish any duty of care to them. The allegations were capable of supporting a claim, and the trial should proceed.

Judges:

Sir Anthony Clarke MR, Auld LJ, Arden LJ

Citations:

[2007] 1 WLR 398, Times 30-Aug-2006, [2006] EWCA Civ 1085

Links:

Bailii

Statutes:

Fatal Accidents Act 1976, Law Reform (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1934

Jurisdiction:

England and Wales

Citing:

Cited – Watkins v Secretary of State for The Home Departmentand others CA 20-Jul-2004
The claimant complained that prison officers had abused the system of reading his solicitor’s correspondence whilst he was in prison. The defendant argued that there was no proof of damage.
Held: Proof of damage was not necessary in the tort . .
Cited – Watkins v Home Office and others HL 29-Mar-2006
The claimant complained of misfeasance in public office by the prisons for having opened and read protected correspondence whilst he was in prison. The respondent argued that he had suffered no loss. The judge had found that bad faith was . .
Cited – Cope v Sharpe (No 2) CA 1912
The court considered defences to assault; whether the defendant was justified in doing certain acts of trespass on the plaintiff’s land for the purpose of preventing heath fire and consequent loss and damage to the property of the defendant’s . .
Cited – Dumbell v Roberts CA 1944
The court discussed the nature of reasonable grounds for suspicion for an arrest. The threshold for the existence of reasonable grounds for suspicion is low, and the requirement is limited. Scott LJ said: ‘The protection of the public is safeguarded . .
Cited – Cresswell v Sirl CA 1948
The defendant shot and killed the plaintiff’s dog. The plaintiff claimed damages for trespass to property, the property being the dog. The defence was that the defendant was justified in killing the dog because it was threatening his sheep.
Cited – Palmer v The Queen PC 23-Nov-1970
It is a defence in criminal law to a charge of assault if the defendant had an honest belief that he was going to be attacked and reacted with proportionate force: ‘If there has been an attack so that defence is reasonably necessary, it should be . .
Cited – Chan Kau v The Queen PC 1955
In a criminal trial for assault, once the evidence is shown to have raised a possible defense of self-defense, the burden is on the prosecution to prove that the defendant intended to apply unlawful force to the victim: ‘Even under the common law . .
Cited – Dallison v Caffery CACD 1965
It is for the detaining authority to justify all periods of detention.
The court described the common law duty on a prosecutor to disclose material. Lord Denning MR said: ‘The duty of a prosecuting counsel or solicitor, as I have always . .
Cited – Regina v Lobell CCA 11-Mar-1957
The court considered the different standards of proof required for civil and criminal accusations of assault.
Held: Appeal allowed. The onus of proving self-defence as a defence to murder, or a defence of ‘killing se defendendo’, was on the . .
Cited – Freeman v Home Office (No 2) CA 1984
A prisoner brought an action in battery against a prison doctor for administering drugs to him by injection. He argued that he was incapable of consenting to the procedure because he was in the defendant’s custody. . He failed at trial.
Held: . .
Cited – Bici and Bici v Ministry of Defence QBD 7-Apr-2004
Claimants sought damages for personal injuries incurred when, in Pristina, Kosovo and during a riot, British soldiers on a UN peacekeeping expedition fired on a car.
Held: The incidents occurred in the course of peace-keeping duties. It was . .
Cited – Parkinson v St James and Seacroft University Hospital NHS Trust CA 11-Apr-2001
A mother had undergone a negligent sterilisation, and in due course she gave birth to a disabled child.
Held: The right to bodily integrity is the first and most important of the interests protected by the law of tort. The cases saying that . .
Cited – Wilson v Pringle CA 26-Mar-1986
Two boys played in a school yard. D said he had pulled a bag from the other’s shoulder as an ordinary act of horseplay. The plaintiff said it was a battery.
Held: The defendant’s appeal against summary judgment was allowed. A claim of trespass . .
Cited – F v West Berkshire Health Authority HL 17-Jul-1990
The parties considered the propriety of a sterilisation of a woman who was, through mental incapacity, unable to give her consent.
Held: The appeal succeeded, and the operation would be lawful if the doctor considered it to be in the best . .
Cited – Regina v Williams CACD 1986
The defendant was charged with threatening to kill.
Held: Evidence of previous threatening and violent conduct of Williams towards the victim was rightly admitted to establish an intention on the part of the defendant that the victim should . .
Cited – Blackburn and Others v Bowering and Another CA 5-Nov-1993
It was self defence if the defendant honestly believes the victim was not an officer of court. The issue was the genuineness of the belief, not its reasonableness. . .
Cited – Beckford v The Queen PC 15-Jun-1987
(Jamaica) Self defence permits a defendant to use such force as is reasonable in the circumstances as he honestly believed them to be. ‘If then a genuine belief, albeit without reasonable grounds, is a defence to rape because it negatives the . .
Cited – Regina v Weston 1879
. .
Cited – Regina v Chisam CCA 1963
A defendant’s belief founding a plea of self defence must be both honest and reasonable. A sufficient justification was established if the accused genuinely believed on reasonable grounds that a relative or friend was in imminent danger of injury, . .
Cited – Regina v Fennell CACD 1971
A father was accused of assaulting a police constable in order to release his son from custody. He pleaded self defence, saying that he had believed the arrest unlawful.
Held: The defence failed. A defendant seeking to justify an assault, . .
Cited – New Orleans and Northeastern Railroad Company v Jopes 1891
(United States Supreme Court) The test of necessity as a defence to an accusation of assault is one of the actual presence of imminent danger and a reasonably apparent necessity of taking such action as was taken: ‘We hold, therefore, that the . .
Cited – Chief Constable of Thames Valley Police v Hepburn CA 13-Dec-2002
The claimant sought damages from the police. They had executed a search warrant, and one officer detained the claimant during the raid.
Held: A person who mistakenly restrained an individual in the mistaken belief that he had been lawfully . .
Cited – Lonhro Plc and Others v Fayed and Others (No 5) CA 6-Oct-1993
The plaintiff sought to amend a conspiracy claim, based on arrangements to publish defamatory statements, by adding a claim for damage to reputation and feelings.
Held: Such a claim could not be made in conspiracy. A Plaintiff’s motives in . .
Cited – Regina v Morgan HL 30-Apr-1975
The defendants appealed against their convictions for rape, denying mens rea and asserting a belief (even if mistaken) that the victim had consented.
Held: For a defence of mistake to succeed, the mistake must have been honestly made and need . .
Cited – Albert v Lavin HL 3-Dec-1981
An off duty and out of uniform police officer attempted to restrain the defendant jumping ahead of a bus queue. The defendant struggled, and continued to do so even after being told that of the officer’s status. He said he had not believed that he . .
Cited – Regina v Kimber CACD 1983
For mens rea, it is the defendant’s belief, not the grounds on which it is based, which goes to negative the intent. The guilty state of mind was the intent to use personal violence to a woman without her consent. If the defendant did not so intend, . .
Cited – Regina v Williams (Gladstone) CACD 28-Nov-1983
The defendant believed that the person whom he assaulted was unlawfully assaulting a third party. That person was a police officer, who said he was arresting the other, but did not show his warrant card.
Held: The court considered the issue of . .
Cited – Three Rivers District Council and Others v Governor and Company of The Bank of England (No 3) HL 22-Mar-2001
Misfeasance in Public Office – Recklessness
The bank sought to strike out the claim alleging misfeasance in public office in having failed to regulate the failed bank, BCCI.
Held: Misfeasance in public office might occur not only when a company officer acted to injure a party, but also . .
Cited – Regina v Chief Constable of West Midlands Police Ex Parte Wiley; Other Similar HL 14-Jul-1994
Statements made to the police to support a complaint against the police, were not part of the class of statements which could attract public interest immunity, and were therefore liable to disclosure.
Lord Woolf said: ‘The recognition of a new . .
Cited – Raja v Van Hoogstraten ChD 19-Dec-2005
Damages were claimed after claimant alleged involvement by the defendant in the murder of the deceased. The defendant had been tried and acquitted of murder and manslaughter, but the allegation was now pursued. The defendant had since failed to . .
Cited – Taylor v Anderton (Police Complaints Authority Intervening) CA 19-Jan-1995
Reports, which had been prepared for the purposes of a police complaint procedure, could be entitled to protection from disclosure under a public interest immunity certificate. The court also considered the relationship between the documentation and . .
Cited – In re McKerr (Northern Ireland) HL 11-Mar-2004
The deceased had been shot by soldiers of the British Army whilst in a car in Northern Ireland. The car was alleged to have ‘run’ a checkpoint. The claimants said the investigation, now 20 years ago, had been inadequate. The claim was brought under . .

Cited by:

Appeal from – Ashley and Another v Chief Constable of Sussex Police HL 23-Apr-2008
The claimants sought to bring an action for damages after a family member suspected of dealing drugs, was shot by the police. At the time he was naked. The police officer had been acquitted by a criminal court of murder. The chief constable now . .
See Also – Ashley and Another v Sussex Police (1) QBD 19-Dec-2008
The court considered the terms under which copies of the Moonstone report could be redacted and disclosed. . .
See Also – Ashley and Another v Sussex Police (2) QBD 19-Dec-2008
. .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Torts – Other, Police

Updated: 28 January 2022; Ref: scu.243977

Roberts v The Attorney General and Another: QBD 20 Dec 2016

Appeal against a decision by which the judge struck out a claim for damages for negligent misstatement against the defendants. In summary, the claimant had applied for the post of Chief Constable of Dyfed-Powys Police. The second defendant attended a selection panel meeting of the local police authority and made certain statements about the claimant which are alleged to be false and which are alleged to have been made negligently.

Lewsi J
[2016] EWHC 3219 (QB)
Bailii
England and Wales

Torts – Other

Updated: 27 January 2022; Ref: scu.572642

Gibson v Douglas and Another: CA 8 Dec 2016

Appeal against rejection of claim for damages for wrongful eviction and damages to goods.
Held: The judge had found not that the defendant had failed to give appropriate notice, but that he had not been personally involved other than as an interested onlooker in the eviction. The appeal failed.

Sir James Munby P FD, Briggs LJ
[2016] EWCA Civ 1266
Bailii
England and Wales
Citing:
Cited – Minister of Health v Bellotti CA 1944
298 blocks of flats had been requisitioned to provide accommodation for persons evacuated from Gibraltar during the war. The evacuees occupied the various flats as licensees. They were given only one week’s notice terminating their licences.
Cited – Robson v Hallett CA 1967
A police officer had been impliedly invited onto land, and was asked to leave, but was then assaulted before he had chance to leave.
Held: The conviction was upheld.
There is an implied licence available to members of the public on . .
Cited – Parker v Parker ChD 24-Jul-2003
Lord Macclesfield claimed a right to occupy a castle. The owners claimed that he had only a mere tenancy at will. The exact rooms in the castle which had been occupied had varied over time.
Held: The applicant was entitled to reasonable . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Housing, Torts – Other

Updated: 27 January 2022; Ref: scu.572414

Taberna Europe Cdo Ii Plc v Selskabet Af 1 September 2008 In Bankruptcy: CA 8 Dec 2016

Moore-Bick VP CA, Tomlinson, Simon LJJ
[2016] EWCA Civ 1262, [2016] WLR(D) 660
Bailii, WLRD
Misrepresentation Act 1967 2(1)
England and Wales
Citing:
Appeal from – Taberna Europe Cdo Ii Plc v Selskabet Af1.September 2008 In Bankruptcy ComC 30-Mar-2015
The claimant claimed substantial damages in respect of one or more alleged misrepresentations made by or on behalf of the defendant which, it is said, induced Taberna into entering into a secondary market purchase of certain subordinated notes . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Torts – Other

Updated: 27 January 2022; Ref: scu.572421

McGill v The Sports and Entertainment Media Group and Others: CA 4 Nov 2016

The claimant football agent had claimed against a footballer client for breach of contract and against the client’s new agent for inducing a breach of contract.

Lloyd Jones LJ, Henderson J
[2016] EWCA Civ 1063, [2016] WLR(D) 571
Bailii, WLRD
England and Wales

Contract, Torts – Other, Damages

Updated: 25 January 2022; Ref: scu.571228

Rudall v The Crown Prosecution Service and Another: QBD 14 Nov 2016

The claimant solicitor alleged that the repeated and failed prosecutions of him and the obtaining of search warrants had been an improper attempt to stop him practising.

Phillips J
[2016] EWHC 2884 (QB)
Bailii
Limitation Act 1980 32
England and Wales

Administrative, Limitation, Torts – Other

Updated: 25 January 2022; Ref: scu.571115

Barkhuysen v Hamilton: QBD 10 Nov 2016

Claims had been made between neighbours in the course of a long running neighbour dispute. In particular a claim was made of malicious prosecution as regards a complaint made to the police.
The claimant had ‘amply made out the third and fourth elements of this tort: the defendant made a false, entirely unfounded, and malicious accusation. That accusation set in train the actions of the police that followed: the claimant’s arrest and detention, the seizure of his property, the intimate sampling and other steps I have identified above. The defendant procured a criminal investigation of the claimant lasting several months.’
However, there was no prosecution for the purposes of the tort. Warby J explained: ‘All of that shows that there was a false arrest and false imprisonment thereafter, which were maliciously procured by the defendant. But in my judgment that is not enough to bring home the claim for damages for malicious prosecution. I accept Mr Samson’s argument that there was no ‘prosecution’ for the purposes of this tort. Ms Marzec submits that the underlying principle of the law of malicious prosecution is that an abuse of the process of the law that causes another injury is actionable; the key feature in considering whether there has been a ‘prosecution’ is whether the actions taken against the claimant were such as to cause him injury. She refers me to Churchill v Siggers (1854) 3 E and B 929, Mohamed Amin v Banerjee [1947] AC 322 at 331 (PC), Roy v Prior [1971] AC 470, 477-9 (HL) and the recent decision of the Supreme Court in Willers v Joyce [2016] UKSC 43. But in none of those cases was a mere arrest held to be actionable in the tort of malicious prosecution. Nor, in my judgment, does any of them stand as authority for any principle that would make a mere arrest so actionable. It is important not to treat passages in judgments, however high their authority, as tantamount to statutory wording.
The pleaded case for the defendant is that a prosecution begins when a person is charged. Mr Samson submits that this is too generous an approach. He argues that the authorities point to the conclusion that the malicious institution of proceedings before a judicial body is actionable in this tort, but not anything short of that. I agree, and add that the established rationale of the tort appears to be that compensation should be available for injury caused by a malicious abuse of the judicial power of the state. All of the cases cited above can be explained on this basis. See also the analysis of Sir Timothy Lloyd in Crawford v Jenkins [2014] EWCA Civ 1035 [2014] EMLR 25 [48]-[50].’ (emphasis added)

Warby J
[2016] EWHC 2858 (QB)
Bailii
England and Wales
Cited by:
See also – Barkhuysen v Hamilton QBD 23-Dec-2016
. .
Cited – CXZ v ZXC QBD 26-Jun-2020
Malicious Prosecution needs court involvement
W had made false allegations against her husband of child sex abuse to police. He sued in malicious prosecution. She applied to strike out, and he replied saying that as a developing area of law a strike out was inappropriate.
Held: The claim . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Land, Torts – Other

Updated: 25 January 2022; Ref: scu.571114

Mortgage Agency Services Number One Ltd (T/A Britannia Commercial Lending) v Cripps Harries Llp: ChD 12 Oct 2016

Action in which a lender sought damages for fraud, conspiracy and (originally) inducing breach of contract against a borrower’s solicitors, the defendants, on the basis that two employees of the defendant firm deliberately misled the claimant in a manner which led to its lending to a property owner and developer. There has been a serious shortfall in recovery in respect of the loan and the lender seeks to recover its losses accordingly.

Mann J
[2016] EWHC 2483 (Ch)
Bailii
England and Wales

Torts – Other, Legal Professions

Updated: 24 January 2022; Ref: scu.570344

Creggy v Barnett and Another: CA 11 Oct 2016

Appeal by the defendant, against an order requiring Mr Creggy to pay to the claimants the sum of US$2,305,795.68 including interest as equitable compensation for his breach of fiduciary duty in transferring in 1998 approximately US$1.2m to a Maltese lawyer. The monies came from the Swiss bank accounts of two Liberian companies, Pound Investments Inc and Glacier Investments Inc which, together with other offshore structures, were established by Mr Creggy for the purpose, as the judge found, of tax avoidance.

Sir Terence Etherton MR, Patten, Sales LJJ
[2016] EWCA Civ 1004
Bailii
England and Wales

Equity, Torts – Other

Updated: 24 January 2022; Ref: scu.570109

Reynolds v Commissioner of Police for the Metropolis: CA 18 May 1982

The plaintiff had been awarded andpound;12,000 damages for false imprisonment by the Commissiner’s officers. Officers had suspected the existence of a repeat arsonist operating an insurance fraud. The plaintiff’s husband owned one of the properties. That was the sole ground for her arrest. The judge had found no ground for reasonable suspicion of her.
Held: The grounds were not capable of amounting to a proper suspicion. The damages award was higher than might be awarded by others but was within the proper range.

Waller, O’Connor LJJ, Sir George Baker
[1982] EWCA Civ 7, [1982] Crim LR 600
Bailii
England and Wales
Cited by:
See Also – Reynolds v Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis 1985
A search warrant had been obtained under the 1913 Act. The court considered the existence of a tort of obtaining a search warrant maliciously.
Waller LJ discussed the problem facing police officers when a large volume of material were to be . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Police, Torts – Other, Damages

Updated: 22 January 2022; Ref: scu.262676

Owens v Noble: CA 10 Mar 2010

The respondent had been awarded substantial damages after an accident for which the appellant was responsible. The appellant now said that the claimant had exaggerated his injuries and misled the judge. The defendant argued that the correct approach where fraud was alleged was to commence an action to set aside the judgment.
Held: Permission to appeal was granted, the new evidence admitted, the appeal allowed and the matter remitted for rehearing. Where new evidence, which might show that the judge at first instance had been deliberately misled, was admitted at appeal, a new trial should be ordered only if the fraud was admitted or if the evidence was incontrovertible. If neither applied, then the issue of the fraud should be settled before a decision was made on further progress.

Sedley, Smith, Elias LJJ
[2010] EWCA Civ 224, [2010] WLR (D) 73
Bailii, WLRD, Times
England and Wales
Citing:
Cited – Ladd v Marshall CA 29-Nov-1954
Conditions for new evidence on appeal
At the trial, the wife of the appellant’s opponent said she had forgotten certain events. After the trial she began divorce proceedings, and informed the appellant that she now remembered. He sought either to appeal admitting fresh evidence, or for . .
Cited – Flower v Lloyd CA 11-Jun-1877
The plaintiffs tried to restrain the defendant from infringing their patent. They succeeded at first instance but the order was overturned on appeal. An expert went to inspect the process at the defendant’s works. Later, employees gave affidavits . .
Followed – Jonesco v Beard HL 1930
The plaintiff was a race horse trainer. He had made two claims against the defendant owner alleging first that the defendant had agreed to give him a share in some horses and second that the plaintiff had sold two horses to him but not been paid for . .
Cited – Hamilton v Al Fayed CA 21-Dec-2000
The claimant sought an order saying that his counsel had discarded confidential documents which were retrieved from his dustbin by a Mr Pell who then sold them to his opponent who had used them to obtain an unfair advantage.
Lord Phillips MR . .
Cited – De Beauville v Swycher and Co and Another 22-Nov-1999
. .
Cited – Mulholland v Mitchell HL 1971
The House was asked whether to re-open an assessment of damages where there had been a very marked change in the injured person’s situation shortly after the trial. There was no suggestion of fraud. The Court of Appeal had decided to admit the fresh . .
Cited – Skone v Skone and Another HL 1971
The husband appealed, seeking a new trial of a divorce petition following the discovery of fresh evidence consisting of a bundle of love letters from the co-respondent to the wife clearly showing that, contrary to his sworn evidence, he had . .
Cited – Roe and Another v Robert McGregor and Sons Ltd; Bills v Roe CA 1968
The plaintiff was driving a van at night. He didn’t see a ‘road closed’ sign erected by the defendant contractors, and proceede down a 30 ft bank injuring himself and his passenger. He said the contractors’ the sign was inadequate and that he had . .
Cited – Hip Foong Hong v H Neotia and Co PC 15-Jul-1918
An appellate Court has inherent power to set aside a judgment obtained through fraud. Lord Buckmaster described how an appellate court should deal with an allegation that an earlier judgment had been obtained by fraud: ‘Where a new trial is sought . .
Cited – Sir William Jaffray and others v The Society of Lloyds CA 20-Jun-2007
The appellant sought to re-open a decision of the Court of Appeal saying that fresh evidence had emerged which he said demonstrated that Lloyd’s had misled the court at first instance. . .
Instructive – Hamilton v Brodie Brittain Racing Ltd CA 13-Dec-1995
The defendant disputed at trial the authenticity of invoices, but provided no forensic evidence to support his challenge. The trial judge had accepted the invoices as authentic. The defendant subsequently adduced evidence which strongly suggested . .
Cited – Sohal v Sohal CA 30-Jul-2002
It was alleged that a verdict upholding a will had been obtained by fraud. Permission was sought to appeal.
Held: It is possible to seek to establish that a judgment was obtained by fraud by adducing fresh evidence on an appeal: ‘There is no . .
Cited – Taylor v Lawrence CA 4-Feb-2002
A party sought to re-open a judgment on the Court of Appeal after it had been perfected. A case had been tried before a judge. One party had asked for a different judge to be appointed, after the judge disclosed that he had been a client of the firm . .

Cited by:
Main Judgment – Owens v Noble CA 18-Mar-2010
In its principal judgment the court referred the case back to the judge to assess whether one or more of the parties had committed a fraud on the court. The court now explained its answer to submissions made on the draft judgment.
Held: It was . .
Cited – Sharland v Sharland CA 10-Feb-2014
Appeal against the order of Sir Hugh Bennett dismissing the application of the appellant wife to resume the hearing of her claim for financial provision following her divorce from the respondent.
Held: (Briggs LJ dissenting) The appeal failed. . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Torts – Other, Litigation Practice

Updated: 21 January 2022; Ref: scu.403316

Ghadami v Bloomfield and Others: ChD 17 Jun 2016

Proceedings against 19 defendants for damages of up to andpound;36,000,000 for conspiracy, interference with a contract or business, inducing or procuring a breach of contract and causing loss by unlawful means. The court now explained how the court had dealt with a letter received from one party, and replied to allegations of bias.

Norris J
[2016] EWHC 1448 (Ch)
Bailii
England and Wales
Citing:
See Also – Ghadami v Bloomfield and Others CA 14-Jul-2015
. .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Torts – Other, Litigation Practice

Updated: 18 January 2022; Ref: scu.565852

Jain and Another v Trent Strategic Health Authority: QBD 4 Dec 2006

Sir Douglas Brown
[2006] EWHC 3019 (QB)
Bailii
Registered Homes Act 1974 30
England and Wales
Cited by:
Appeal from – Jain and Another v Trent Strategic Health Authority CA 22-Nov-2007
The claimant argued that the defendant owed him a duty of care as proprietor of a registered nursing home in cancelling the registration of the home under the 1984 Act. The authority appealed a finding that it owed such a duty.
Held: The . .
See Also – Trent Strategic Health Authority v Jain and Another HL 21-Jan-2009
The claimants’ nursing home business had been effectively destroyed by the actions of the Authority which had applied to revoke their licence without them being given notice and opportunity to reply. They succeeded on appeal, but the business was by . .
See Also – Jain and another v The United Kingdom ECHR 16-Sep-2009
. .
See Also – Jain and another v The United Kingdom ECHR 9-Mar-2010
The applicants ran a Registered Nursing Home. The health authority, having concerns about its elderly residents, brought an ex parte application under section 30 of the Registered Homes Act 1984 for an order cancelling the Certificate of . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Health Professions, Negligence, Torts – Other

Updated: 12 January 2022; Ref: scu.347109

Howarth v Commissioner of Police of The Metropolis: QBD 3 Nov 2011

The claimant sought judicial review of a decision to search him whilst travelling to a public protest in London. A previous demonstration involving this group had resulted in criminal damage, but neither the claimant nor his companions were found to be in possession of any materials for causing damage. The claimant said that the officer had no proper grounds of suspicion to justify the search.
Held: The claim failed.
McCombe J said: ‘The rights of expression and of assembly protected by the Convention are indeed precious in a democratic society. However, there is a significant danger of the law becoming ‘over precious’, in a rather different sense, about minimal intrusions into privacy and alleged indirect infringements of the rights of privacy, assembly and expression which are the price today of participation in numerous lawful activities conducted in large groups of people. I do not forget that many such activities, such as travel and attendance at sporting and entertainment events are not rights protected by the Convention. I also note the point made by the European Court in Gillan that persons attending private events and those travelling by air can be taken to consent to such searches. Expression and assembly, like those other lawful activities, are nonetheless encouraged and fostered, rather than hindered, by sensible and good natured controls by the authorities and the sensible and good natured acceptance of such controls by members of the public.’

Hallett LJ, McCombe J
[2011] EWHC 2818 (QB)
Bailii
European Convention on Human Rights 8 10 11, Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 1(3)
England and Wales
Citing:
Cited – A (A juvenile) v The Queen 1978
Spitting on a police officer’s coat was held to be such a minor ‘damage’ to the coat as not to be criminal damage within the meaning of the 1971 Act at all. Though spitting on a raincoat which was likely to be cleaned easily with a damp cloth did . .
Cited – Castorina v Chief Constable of Surrey CA 10-Jun-1988
Whether an officer had reasonable cause to arrest somebody without a warrant depended upon an objective assessment of the information available to him, and not upon his subjective beliefs. The court had three questions to ask (per Woolf LJ): ‘(a) . .
Cited – O’Hara v Chief Constable of the Royal Ulster Constabulary HL 21-Nov-1996
Second Hand Knowledge Supports Resaobnable Belief
The plaintiff had been arrested on the basis of the 1984 Act. The officer had no particular knowledge of the plaintiff’s involvement, relying on a briefing which led to the arrest.
Held: A reasonable suspicion upon which an arrest was founded . .
Cited – Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis v Raissi CA 12-Nov-2008
The Commissioner appealed against an award of damages for false imprisonment. The claimant had been arrested shortly after a terrorist attack. The judge had held that they had no reasonable belief of his involvement. The Commissioner did not now . .
Cited – Cumming and others v Chief Constable of Northumbria Police CA 17-Dec-2003
The six claimants sought damages for wrongful arrest and false imprisonment. Each had been arrested on an officer’s suspicion. They operated CCTV equipment, and it appeared that tapes showing the commission of an offence had been tampered with. Each . .
Cited – Kay and Another v London Borough of Lambeth and others; Leeds City Council v Price and others and others HL 8-Mar-2006
In each case the local authority sought to recover possession of its own land. In the Lambeth case, they asserted this right as against an overstaying former tenant, and in the Leeds case as against gypsies. In each case the occupiers said that the . .
Cited – Gillan and Quinton v The United Kingdom ECHR 12-Jan-2010
The claimants had been stopped by the police using powers in the 2000 Act. They were going to a demonstration outside an arms convention. There was no reason given for any suspicion that the searches were needed.
Held: The powers given to the . .
Cited – Tabernacle v Secretary of State for Defence CA 5-Feb-2009
The claimant sought judicial review to test the validity of the bye-laws which prohibited them from camping on public land to support their demonstration.
Held: The bye-laws violated the claimant’s right to freedom of assembly and of . .
Cited – Gillan, Regina (on the Application of) v Commissioner of Police for the Metropolis and Another HL 8-Mar-2006
The defendants said that the stop and search powers granted under the 2000 Act were too wide, and infringed their human rights. Each had been stopped when innocently attending demonstrations in London, and had been effectively detained for about . .
Cited – The Sunday Times v The United Kingdom (No 2) ECHR 26-Nov-1991
Any prior restraint on freedom of expression calls for the most careful scrutiny. ‘Freedom of expression constitutes one of the essential foundations of a democratic society subject to paragraph (2) of Article 10. It is applicable not only to . .
Cited – Laporte, Regina (on the application of ) v Chief Constable of Gloucestershire HL 13-Dec-2006
The claimants had been in coaches being driven to take part in a demonstration at an air base. The defendant police officers stopped the coaches en route, and, without allowing any number of the claimants to get off, returned the coaches to London. . .
Cited – Hashman and Harrup v The United Kingdom ECHR 25-Nov-1999
The defendants had been required to enter into a recognisance to be of good behaviour after disrupting a hunt by blowing of a hunting horn. They were found to have unlawfully caused danger to the dogs. Though there had been no breach of the peace, . .

Cited by:
Cited – Marshall v Crown Prosecution Service Admn 17-Jun-2015
A car was seen speeding. Husband and wife each said that they did not know who was driving it in response to notices requiring that information. Mrs M now appealed against her conviction under section 172. . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Police, Torts – Other

Updated: 12 January 2022; Ref: scu.448160

S v Airedale National Health Service Trust: QBD 22 Aug 2002

The patient had been detained, and then secluded within the mental hospital for 11 days. He claimed to have been subjected to inhuman treatment, and false imprisonment.
Held: His claim failed. The policy allowed the authority to confine him to a locked room under supervision for the protection of others. The fact of seclusion did not add to the fact that he was already and lawfully confined. A self evidently necessary power could be read into the 1983 Act to permit seclusion. Nevertheless a high degree of scrutiny was appropriate to prevent abuse.
Mr Justice Stanley Burnton considered when it might be proper to hear oral evidence on an application for judicial review: ‘It is a convention of our litigation that at trial in general the evidence of a witness is accepted unless he is cross-examined and is thus given the opportunity to rebut the allegations made against him. There may be an exception where there is undisputed objective evidence inconsistent with that of the witness that cannot sensibly be explained away (in other words, the witness’s testimony is manifestly wrong), but that is not the present case. The general rule applies as much in judicial review proceedings as in other litigation, although in judicial review proceedings it is relatively unusual for there to be a conflict of testimony and even more unusual for there to be cross-examination of witnesses.’

Mr Justice Stanley Burnton
[2003] Lloyd’s Rep Med 21, [2003] MHLR 63, Times 05-Sep-2002, [2002] EWHC 1780 (Admin)
Bailii
Mental Health Act 1983, European Convention on Human Rights 3 5
England and Wales
Citing:
Cited – Regina v Deputy Governor of Parkhurst Prison, Ex parte Hague, Weldon v Home Office HL 24-Jul-1991
The prisoner challenged the decision to place him in segregation under Prison Rule 43. Under rule 43(1) the initial power to segregate was given to ‘the governor’. The case arose from the fact that the governor of one prison had purported to . .
Cited – Regina v Ashworth Hospital Authority, Ex parte Munjaz (No 2) Admn 5-Jul-2002
The court dismissed the claimant’s complaint that the seclusion policies operated at Ashworth Special Hospital infringed his human rights. The Special Hospitals operated policies for seclusion which differed from the Code of Practice laid down under . .
Cited – Bolam v Friern Hospital Management Committee QBD 1957
Professional to use Skilled Persons Ordinary Care
Negligence was alleged against a doctor.
Held: McNair J directed the jury: ‘Where some special skill is exercised, the test for negligence is not the test of the man on the Clapham omnibus, because he has not got this special skill. The test . .
Cited – Regina (Wilkinson) v Broadmoor Special Hospital and Others CA 22-Oct-2001
A detained mental patient sought to challenge a decision by his RMO that he should receive anti-psychotic medication, despite his refusal to consent, and to challenge a certificate issued by the SOAD.
Held: Where a mental patient sought to . .

Cited by:
Appeal from – Munjaz v Mersey Care National Health Service Trust And the Secretary of State for Health, the National Association for Mental Health (Mind) Respondent interested; CA 16-Jul-2003
The claimant was a mental patient under compulsory detention, and complained that he had been subjected to periods of seclusion.
Held: The appeal succeeded. The hospital had failed to follow the appropriate Code of Practice. The Code was not . .
Cited – Shoesmith, Regina (on The Application of) v Ofsted and Others Admn 23-Apr-2010
The claimant challenged her dismissal as Director of children’s services at the respondent council following an adverse report into the Baby P death identified her department as being responsible. She said that the first defendant had allowed its . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Health, Torts – Other, Judicial Review

Updated: 02 January 2022; Ref: scu.174790

Brownlie v Four Seasons Holdings Incorporated: CA 3 Jul 2015

The claimant commenced an action here after suffering injury whilst in Egypt on an excursion organised under the control of the defendant. The defendant denied jurisdiction as regards the damage suffered.
Held: The defendant’s appeal was allowed in part. The use of the word ‘damage’ in the Regulation could not be relied upon to create a false distinction between ‘any damage’ and ‘the direct damage’.

Arden, Bean, King LJJ
[2015] EWCA Civ 665, [2015] 2 CLC 151, [2015] CP Rep 40, [2016] PIQR P2, [2015] WLR(D) 292, [2016] 1 WLR 1814
Bailii, WLRD
Council Regulation (EC) No 864/2007, Civil Procedure Rules 6, Law Reform (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1934
England and Wales
Cited by:
At CA – Four Seasons Holdings Incorporated v Brownlie SC 19-Dec-2017
The claimant and her family were in a car crash while on holiday in Egypt. The claimant’s husband and his daughter died. The holiday had been booked in England and the car excursion booked in advance from England. The hotel operator was incorporated . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Jurisdiction, European, Personal Injury, Torts – Other, Civil Procedure Rules

Updated: 01 January 2022; Ref: scu.549764

Al-Saadoon and Others v Secretary of State for Defence: Admn 17 Mar 2015

Leggatt J explained the idea of enforced disappearance: ‘a concept recognised in international law and . . a practice which is internationally condemned. It involves detention outside the protection of the law where there is a refusal by the state to acknowledge the detention or disclose the fate of the person who has been detained. Its cruelty and vice lie in the facts that the disappeared person is completely isolated from the outside world and at the mercy of their captors and that the person’s family is denied knowledge of what has happened to them.’

Leggatt J
[2015] EWHC 715 (Admin), [2015] WLR(D) 168, [2015] 3 WLR 503, [2017] QB 1015
Bailii, WLRD
England and Wales
Citing:
See Also – Al-Saadoon and Others, Regina (on the Application of) v Secretary of State for Defence Admn 29-Aug-2008
The applicants complained of their continued detention in Iraq in a UK internment facility as an infringement of their human rights. . .
See Also – Al-Saadoon and Another, Regina (on the Application of) v Secretary of State for Defence Admn 19-Dec-2008
The two applicants had been detained by the armed forces in Iraq suspected of murder. They sought release before being transferred to the civilian authorities for trial saying that the trials would not be fair. The respondent denied that the . .
See Also – Al-Saadoon and Another, Regina (on the Application of) v Secretary of State for Defence CA 22-Dec-2008
. .
See Also – Al-Saadoon and Another, Regina (on the Application of) v Secretary of State for Defence CA 21-Jan-2009
The claimants had been detained on the request of the Iraqi criminal court in a detention facility run by the UK armed forces. They complained of their proposed transfer to an Iraqi facility in anticipation of facing trial for murder, for which if . .
Cited – Al-Saadoon and Mufdhi v The United Kingdom ECHR 2-Mar-2009
The claimant Iraqi nationals complained of their long term detention by British forces in Iraq, and of their transfer to the Iraqi authorities for trial for murder.
Held: The transfer was a breach of the applicants’ rights. The Iraqis had . .

Cited by:
See Also – Al-Saadoon and Others v Secretary of State for Defence Admn 26-Jun-2015
Reasons for orders following a case management hearing to review whether there are steps which the court should now be taking to procure compliance by the Secretary of State for Defence with the duty of the UK under articles 2 and 3 of the European . .
See Also – Al-Saadoon and Others v Secretary of State for Defence Admn 7-Apr-2016
The court considered the extent of the state’s obligations to investigate allegations of unlawful killing and ill-treatment of civilians by British soldiers in Iraq between 2003 and 2009. It follows a hearing to consider three issues: i) Whether the . .
Cited – Belhaj and Another v Straw and Others SC 17-Jan-2017
The claimant alleged complicity by the defendant, (now former) Foreign Secretary, in his mistreatment by the US while held in Libya. He also alleged involvement in his unlawful abduction and removal to Libya, from which had had fled for political . .
See Also – Al-Saadoon and Others v The Secretary of State for Defence and Others CA 9-Sep-2016
. .
Cited – Miller v The College of Policing CA 20-Dec-2021
Hate-Incident Guidance Inflexible and Unlawful
The central issue raised in the appeal is the lawfulness of certain parts of a document entitled the Hate Crime Operational Guidance (the Guidance). The Guidance, issued in 2014 by the College of Policing (the College), the respondent to this . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Torts – Other, Armed Forces, Human Rights

Updated: 30 December 2021; Ref: scu.544341

Kamoka and Others v The Security Service and Others: QBD 22 Jan 2015

The claimants alleged unlawful detention by the former government of Libya with the connivance of the defendants. The claim was based on documents discovered after the collapse of the former Libyan government. The defendants now sought the strike out of the claims.

Irwin J
[2015] EWHC 60 (QB)
Bailii
England and Wales

Torts – Other

Updated: 27 December 2021; Ref: scu.541728

AMG, Regina (on The Application of) v Secretary of State for The Home Department: Admn 8 Jan 2015

AMG now applies for judicial review of the initial decision to detain him under powers under the 197 Act, and the decision to maintain such detention at various points thereafter.

William Davis J
[2015] EWHC 5 (Admin)
Bailii
England and Wales

Immigration, Torts – Other

Updated: 24 December 2021; Ref: scu.540496

The Secretary of State for Justice v MM: CA 29 Mar 2017

Power of FTT to deprive patient of liberty

Two patients who had been confined to a secure hospital, appealed against orders which would continue to restrict their liberty upon being conditionally released. The parties now disputed the jurisdiction of the FTT to make such an order.
Held: The orders made by the UT were set aside. There is no ‘umbrella’ power that can be exercised by the tribunal to authorise a patient’s deprivation of liberty outside hospital. It is accordingly inappropriate for a tribunal to do so, whether by direct or indirect means (for example, by the use of declarations to provide for an asserted lacuna in the statutory scheme). There is no lacuna in the scheme. However practicable and effective it may be to provide for a tribunal to have such a power, for example to improve access to justice to a specialist and procedurally appropriate adjudication, Parliament has not provided for the same.

Sir James Munby, President, Lady Justice Gloster, Vice-President, and Sir Ernest Ryder, Senior President
[2017] EWCA Civ 194, [2017] WLR(D) 235, [2017] 1 WLR 4681
Bailii, WLRD
Mental Health Act 1983
England and Wales
Citing:
Cited – Secretary of State for Justice v KC and C Partnership NHS Foundation Trust UTAA 2-Jul-2015
Mental Health : All
The local authority had sought an order under the 2005 Act seeking a personal welfare order on the basis that it would be in KC’s best interests for him to move to a proposed placement (the Placement) on the terms of a care . .
Cited – P (By His Litigation Friend The Official Solicitor) v Cheshire West and Chester Council and Another and similar SC 19-Mar-2014
Deprivation of Liberty
P and Q were two adolescent sisters without capacity. They complained that the arrangements made for their care amounted to an unjustified deprivation of liberty, and now appealed against rejection of their cases. In the second case, P, an adult . .
Cited – Ghaidan v Godin-Mendoza HL 21-Jun-2004
Same Sex Partner Entitled to tenancy Succession
The protected tenant had died. His same-sex partner sought a statutory inheritance of the tenancy.
Held: His appeal succeeded. The Fitzpatrick case referred to the position before the 1998 Act: ‘Discriminatory law undermines the rule of law . .
Appeal from – MM v WL Clinic and Another UTAA 23-Nov-2015
Mental Health : All – whether for the purposes of Article 5 a restricted patient who has the capacity to do so can give a valid consent to the terms of a conditional discharge that, when it is implemented, will on an objective assessment create a . .
Cited – Secretary of State for the Home Department, Regina (on the Application of) v Mental Health Review Tribunal Admn 20-May-2002
The Court considered the meaning of ‘discharge’ from a mental health hospital. Elias J held that it meant ‘discharge from detention in hospital’, so that there could be a discharge on condition of residence in another hospital: but he also held that . .

Cited by:
Appeal from – Secretary of State for Justice v MM SC 28-Nov-2018
The respondent had been detained after conviction for arson, under the 1983 Act, and was liable to indefinite detention in hospital for medical treatment and dischargeable only by the Appellant or the First Tier Tribunal, possibly only as a . .
Appeal from – Welsh Ministers v PJ SC 17-Dec-2018
A patient detained under the Mental Health Act 1983 (MHA) may be released from compulsory detention in hospital subject to a community treatment order (CTO). The question arising on this appeal is whether a patient’s responsible clinician (may . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Torts – Other, Health, Human Rights

Updated: 24 December 2021; Ref: scu.581298

Pearce v Ove Arup Partnership Ltd and others: ChD 2 Nov 2001

An architect was accused of deliberate copying of another’s plans in building the Kunsthal in Rotterdam. The case concerned Dutch copyright, and the experts could not agree on the degree of copying required to found a claim.
Held: The expert evidence fell well short of establishing any copying, and the court rejected the allegation entirely. Jacob J: ‘I see no reason why a judge who has formed an opinion that an expert had seriously broken his Part 35 duty should not, in an appropriate case, refer the matter to the expert’s professional body if he or she has one. Whether there is a breach of the expert’s professional rules and if so what sanction is appropriate would be a matter for the body concerned.’ A witness should be given an opportunity to make representations before any referral took place.

Jacob J
[2001] EWHC Ch 455, [2001] EWHC Ch 481
Bailii, Bailii
England and Wales
Citing:
Cited – Routestone Ltd v Minories Finance ChD 1996
A receiver’s management duties will ordinarily impose on him no general duty to exercise the power of sale, or to ‘work’ an estate by refurbishing it before sale. Speaking of the role of an expert witness ‘What really matters in most cases are the . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Intellectual Property, Torts – Other

Updated: 23 December 2021; Ref: scu.263743

McMeekin v Long: QBD 4 Oct 2002

The sellers of a property did not disclose potential disputes with their neighbours about parking over an access way and the dumping of rubbish. They claimed that in each case they had taken advice and had accepted it and there had been no further disagreement, and that there had therefore been no dispute. The solicitor in his replies to standard Part II enquiries confirmed that the sellers replies were accurate so far as he knew. It was clear however that the potential for dispute remained and that it had been long running and personal. The form also asked if complaints had ever been received.
Held: The sellers were guilty of a fraudulent misrepresentation. The evidence established to a sufficient standard, that the sellers had acted fraudulently, and, since the claimant would not have purchased the property if they had known of the difficulties, they had relied upon the misrepresentations and could claim in damages. Damages of andpound;67,000 were awarded.

Astill J
[2003] 29 EG 120
England and Wales

Torts – Other, Contract

Updated: 23 December 2021; Ref: scu.186766

Neville v London Express Newspaper: HL 1919

The question was whether, in order to recover damages for the tort which existed, it was necessary to show specific loss.
Held: An action for damages for maintenance will not lie in the absence of proof of special damage.

Lord Finlay LC, Lord Shaw of Dunfermline and Lord Phillimore, Lord Finlay
[1919] AC 368
England and Wales
Citing:
Cited – Ashby v White KBD 1703
Mr Ashby a burgess of the borough of Aylesbury was deprived of his right to vote by the misfeasance of a returning officer.
Held: The majority rejected the claim.
Lord Holt CJ (dissenting) An action would lie: ‘If the plaintiff has a . .
Cited – Marzetti v Williams 1830
A finding of a beach of contract implies that some remedy will be available. . .
Cited – Embrey v Owen 1851
Parke B said: ‘It was very ably argued before us by the learned counsel for the plaintiffs that the plaintiffs had a right to the full flow of the water in its natural course and abundance, as an incident to their property in the land through which . .
Cited – Beaumont v Greathead 1846
‘Nominal damages are a mere peg on which to hang costs . . Nominal damages, in fact, mean a sum of money that may be spoken of, but that has no existence in point of quantity.’ . .

Cited by:
Cited – Chagos Islanders v The Attorney General, Her Majesty’s British Indian Ocean Territory Commissioner QBD 9-Oct-2003
The Chagos Islands had been a British dependent territory since 1814. The British government repatriated the islanders in the 1960s, and the Ilois now sought damages for their wrongful displacement, misfeasance, deceit, negligence and to establish a . .
Cited – Watkins v Secretary of State for The Home Departmentand others CA 20-Jul-2004
The claimant complained that prison officers had abused the system of reading his solicitor’s correspondence whilst he was in prison. The defendant argued that there was no proof of damage.
Held: Proof of damage was not necessary in the tort . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Torts – Other

Updated: 16 December 2021; Ref: scu.186666

Aberconway v Whetnall: 1918

Lord Aberconway and others sought to recover for themselves and all other subscribers to a fund for the benefit of the defendant the amounts they had collectively subscribed on the grounds that they were induced to do so by misrepresentation.
Held: Insofar as the claim was made in a representative capacity it was misconceived because it could not be said that: ‘the donors to the fund have a common interest and a common grievance when the very existence of the grievance depends on facts which may differ in each individual case.’

Eve J
(1918) 87 LJ Ch 524
England and Wales
Citing:
Cited – Duke of Bedford v Ellis HL 10-Dec-1900
Ellis and five others sued on behalf of themselves and all other growers of fruit, flowers, vegetables, roots or herbs to enforce rights conferred on them by the Covent Garden Act 1828 against the Duke of Bedford as the owner of the market. The Duke . .

Cited by:
Cited – Emerald Supplies Ltd and Another v British Airways Plc ChD 8-Apr-2009
The claim was for damages after alleged price fixing by the defendants. The claimants sought to recover for themselves and as representatives of others who had similarly suffered. The defendants sought that the representative element of the claim be . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Litigation Practice, Torts – Other

Updated: 15 December 2021; Ref: scu.392980

Das, Regina (on The Application of) v Secretary of State for The Home Department and Others: CA 28 Jan 2014

The claimant said that his continued immigration detention became unlawful on his being diagnosed with a mental health condition.
Held: Beatson LJ discussed the meaning of the phrase ‘satisfactory management’ He said he as inclined to accept the Home Secretary’s contention that, if the management of the illness in an IRC was likely to prevent its deterioration, it would be satisfactory even if treatment was available in the community which was likely to secure its improvement.

Moses, Beatson, Underhill LJJ
[2014] EWCA Civ 45, [2014] WLR(D) 39, [2014] 1 WLR 3538
Bailii, WLRD
England and Wales
Cited by:
Cited – O, Regina (on The Application of) v Secretary of State for The Home Department SC 27-Apr-2016
The appellant failed asylum seeker had been detained for three years pending deportation. She suffered a mental illness, and during her detention the medical advice that her condition could be coped with in the detention centre changed, recommending . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Torts – Other

Updated: 29 November 2021; Ref: scu.520769

UBAF Ltd v European American Banking Corporation: CA 1984

The defendant invited the plaintiff to take part in a syndicated loan. The defendant’s assistant secretary signed a letter to the plaintiff making representations, now claimed to be fraudulent. The defendant succeeded at first instance arguing that the signature was not that of the bank, and that even if it was, the action would be statute barred.
Held: The court refused to strike out the claim. A company itself made a representation, if it produced a document which was signed by an authorised officer or agent acting within the scope of his actual authority. This applied to bind the defendant bank. The nature of a syndicated loan was a fiduciary arrangement, and the obligations on a lead bank were continuing for limitation purposes, time did not run, and the obligation was not time barred. The issue would be settled at trial when it was established when the defendant could be said to have come to know of the alleged deceit.

Ackner LJ
[1984] QB 713, [1984] 1 WLR 508, [1984] CLY 1579
England and Wales
Citing:
Explained – Swift v Jewsbury and Goddard 1874
. .
Explained – Hirst v West Riding Banking Co CA 1901
The representation on which the claim made was was in a letter signed by the branch manager of the defendant bank and the court evidently assumed that this could not be equated with the bank’s own signature.
Held: The action against the bank . .
Considered – Forster v Outred and Co CA 1981
A mother signed a mortgage deed charging her property to H as security for a loan to her son. She claimed the solicitor had been negligent in his advice. The solicitor replied that the claim was out of time. The loss accrued not when demand for . .

Cited by:
Cited – Nykredit Mortgage Bank Plc v Edward Erdman Group Ltd (No 2) HL 27-Nov-1997
A surveyor’s negligent valuation had led to the plaintiff obtaining what turned out to be inadequate security for his loan. A cause of action against a valuer for his negligent valuation arises when a relevant and measurable loss is first recorded. . .
Cited – Pegasus Management Holdings Sca and Another v Ernst and Young (A Firm) and Another ChD 11-Nov-2008
The claimants alleged professional negligence in advice given by the defendant on a share purchase, saying that it should have been structured to reduce Capital Gains Tax. The defendants denied negligence and said the claim was statute barred.
Banking, Limitation, Torts – Other, Company

Updated: 29 November 2021; Ref: scu.181338

Excalibur Ventures Llc v Texas Keystone Inc and Others: ComC 10 Sep 2013

Excalibur claimed to be entitled to an interest in a number of oil fields in Kurdistan, which are potentially extremely profitable, and of which the Shaikan field is the most important. The claim was for specific performance of a ‘Collaboration Agreement’ pursuant to which Excalibur claimed its entitlement to an interest in the fields or to damages which, as finally put, were said to be of the order of US $ 1.6 billion.
Held: The claim failed on every point, whether put in contract, which was the primary claim, or in tort, where five causes of action were pursued: interference with contract, interference with business relations, breach of fiduciary duty, fraud by misrepresentation and fraud by concealment. The claim did not fail narrowly or on the basis of abstruse legal doctrine upon which two views might be possible. It failed because Excalibur had failed to establish any contract with Gulf.

Christopher Clarke LJ
[2013] EWHC 2767 (Comm)
Bailii
England and Wales
Citing:
See Also – Excalibur Ventures Llc v Texas Keystone Inc and Others ComC 28-Jun-2011
The court gave its reasons for the grant of an order restraining the claimant from also pursuing arbitration proceedings at the International Court of Arbitration.
Held: Gloster J was, found on the evidence then before her a strong arguable . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Contract, Torts – Other

Updated: 27 November 2021; Ref: scu.518979

Jolley v Sutton London Borough Council: HL 24 May 2000

An abandoned boat had been left on its land and not removed by the council. Children tried to repair it, jacked it up, and a child was injured when it fell. It was argued for the boy, who now appealed dismissal of his claim by the Court of Appeal, that the possibility of injury to children playing on such an object was foreseeable. The judge had also found a particular danger of an older boy seeking to prop it up and repair it. The council had argued that this latter event was unforseeable.
Held: The Court of Appeal had not been justified in disturbing the Judge’s finding of fact. Given the ingenuity of children for mischief, mischief which went beyond that foreseen, but which was of the same type, was capable of leaving the authority liable under the Act.
There was no social value or cost saving to the Council in creating a risk by leaving a derelict boat lying about. It was something which they ought to have removed whether it created a risk of injury or not. They were liable for an injury which, though foreseeable, was not particularly likely. Foreseeability does not denote a fixed point on the scale of probability.

Lord Browne-Wilkinson Lord Mackay of Clashfern Lord Steyn Lord Hoffmann Lord Hobhouse of Woodborough
Times 24-May-2000, Gazette 08-Jun-2000, [2000] 1 WLR 1082, [2000] UKHL 31, [2000] 3 All ER 409
House of Lords, Bailii
Occupiers’ Liability Act 1957 2(2)
England and Wales
Citing:
Appeal from – Regina v London Borough of Sutton, ex parte Jolley CA 19-Jun-1998
The plaintiff, a boy, was injured when playing on a derelict boat left on council land. The council appealed an award of damages against it.
Held: A local authority may be liable for injury caused by a derelict boat not removed from their land . .
First instance – Jolley v Sutton London Borough Council QBD 1998
The claimant, a boy was injured when playing around a boat abandoned on land owned by the defendant. He had propped it up to attempt a repair, and was crushed when it fell on him. He said that in not removing the boat they had been negligent.
Cited – Donoghue (or M’Alister) v Stevenson HL 26-May-1932
Decomposed Snail in Ginger Beer Bottle – Liability
The appellant drank from a bottle of ginger beer manufactured by the defendant. She suffered injury when she found a half decomposed snail in the liquid. The glass was opaque and the snail could not be seen. The drink had been bought for her by a . .
Cited – Bolton v Stone HL 10-May-1951
The plaintiff was injured by a prodigious and unprecedented hit of a cricket ball over a distance of 100 yards. He claimed damages in negligence.
Held: When looking at the duty of care the court should ask whether the risk was not so remote . .
Cited – Hughes v Lord Advocate HL 21-Feb-1963
The defendants had left a manhole uncovered and protected only by a tent and paraffin lamp. A child climbed down the hole. When he came out he kicked over one of the lamps. It fell into the hole and caused an explosion. The child was burned. The . .
Cited – Overseas Tankship (UK) Ltd v Morts Dock and Engineering Co Ltd (The Wagon Mound No 1) PC 18-Jan-1961
Foreseeability Standard to Establish Negligence
Complaint was made that oil had been discharged into Sydney Harbour causing damage. The court differentiated damage by fire from other types of physical damage to property for the purposes of liability in tort, saying ‘We have come back to the plain . .
Cited – Overseas Tankship (UK) Ltd v Miller Steamship Co Pty (The Wagon Mound) (No 2) PC 25-May-1966
(New South Wales) When considering the need to take steps to avoid injury, the court looked to the nature of defendant’s activity. There was no social value or cost saving in this defendant’s activity. ‘In the present case there was no justification . .

Cited by:
Cited – Groom v Selby CA 18-Oct-2001
The defendant negligently failed to discover the claimant’s pregnancy. A severely disabled child was born. The question was as to the responsibility for payment of excess costs of raising a severely disabled child, a claim for economic loss. The . .
Cited – Tomlinson v Congleton Borough Council and others HL 31-Jul-2003
The claimant dived into a lake, severely injuring himself. The council appealed liability, arguing that it owed him no duty of care under the Act since he was a trespasser. It had placed warning signs to deter swimmers.
Held: The council’s . .
Cited – The Attorney General v Hartwell PC 23-Feb-2004
PC (The British Virgin Islands) A police officer had taken the police revolver, and used it to shoot the claimant. It was alleged that the respondent police force were vicariously liable for his acts and also . .
Cited – Gabriel v Kirklees Metropolitan Council CA 24-Mar-2004
The claimant (aged 6) sought damages after being hurt when other children playing on a building site threw stones from the site, hitting him as he passed by.
Held: The case raised questions of law and it was incumbent on the judge to provide . .
Cited – Islington London Borough Council v University College London Hospital NHS Trust CA 16-Jun-2005
The local authority sought repayment from a negligent hospital of the cost of services it had had to provide to an injured patient. They said that the hospital had failed to advise the patient to resume taking warfarin when her operation was . .
Cited – London General Holdings Ltd and others v USP Plc and Another CA 22-Jul-2005
Copyright was claimed in a draft legal agreement. Infringement was established, but the court was asked to look at the assessment of damages.
Held: ‘what is the basis upon which damages for breach of copyright are awarded? The question cannot . .
Cited – Jebson v Ministry of Defence CA 28-Jun-2000
The claimant was a guardsman travelling in the rear of a service lorry. He fell from the tailgate suffering severe injury. He was drunk after a social trip.
Held: Though a person could normally expect to be responsible himself for incidents . .
Cited – Corr v IBC Vehicles Ltd CA 31-Mar-2006
The deceased had suffered a head injury whilst working for the defendant. In addition to severe physical consequences he suffered post-traumatic stress, became more and more depressed, and then committed suicide six years later. The claimant . .
Cited – Hone v Six Continents Retail Ltd CA 29-Jun-2005
The employer appealed a finding that it was liable in damages for negligence to the claimant, and employee who suffered psychiatric injury cause by stress at work. He said he had been left to work very excessive hours, between 89 and 92 hours a . .
Cited – Johnston v NEI International Combustion Ltd; Rothwell v Chemical and Insulating Co Ltd; similar HL 17-Oct-2007
The claimant sought damages for the development of neural plaques, having been exposed to asbestos while working for the defendant. The presence of such plaques were symptomless, and would not themselves cause other asbestos related disease, but . .
Cited – Geary v JD Wetherspoon Plc QBD 14-Jun-2011
The claimant, attempting to slide down the banisters at the defendants’ premises, fell 4 metres suffering severe injury. She claimed in negligence and occupiers’ liability. The local council had waived a requirement that the balustrade meet the . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Personal Injury, Negligence, Torts – Other

Leading Case

Updated: 27 November 2021; Ref: scu.82576

F and S v TH: QBD 1 Jul 2016

Claim for damages as victims of sexual abuse alleged against father.

Langstaff J
[2016] EWHC 1605 (QB)
Bailii
England and Wales
Citing:
Cited – Stubbings v Webb and Another HL 10-Feb-1993
Sexual Assault is not an Act of Negligence
In claims for damages for child abuse at a children’s home made out of the six year time limit time were effectively time barred, with no discretion for the court to extend that limit. The damage occurred at the time when the child left the home. A . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Torts – Other

Updated: 22 November 2021; Ref: scu.566573

Archbishop Bowen and Another v JL: CA 21 Feb 2017

The defendants appealed against finding that they were responsible for the assaults by a priest on the claimant.

Lewison, Burnett LJJ, Sir Ernest Ryder SP T
[2017] EWCA Civ 82
Bailii
England and Wales
Citing:
Cited – Stubbings v Webb and Another HL 10-Feb-1993
Sexual Assault is not an Act of Negligence
In claims for damages for child abuse at a children’s home made out of the six year time limit time were effectively time barred, with no discretion for the court to extend that limit. The damage occurred at the time when the child left the home. A . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Torts – Other, Limitation

Updated: 22 November 2021; Ref: scu.575330

Tinsley v Milligan: CA 1992

The court considered the defence of illegal user to a claim to have established an easement by prescription: ‘These authorities seem to me to establish that when applying the ‘ex turpi causa’ maxim in a case in which a defence of illegality has been raised, the court should keep in mind that the underlying principle is the so-called ‘public conscience’ test. The Court must weigh, or balance, the adverse consequences of granting relief against the adverse consequences of refusing relief. The ultimate decision calls for a value judgment. The detailed principles summarised by Lord Justice Kerr in the Euro-Diam case, [1900] 1 QB. 1, and distinctions such as that between causes of action which arise directly ex turpi causa and causes of action to which the unlawful conduct is incidental are valuable as guidelines. But they are no more than guidelines. Their value and justification lie in the practical assistance they give to courts by focusing attention on particular features which are material in carrying out the balancing exercise in different types of case’.
Ralph Gibson LJ dissented, observing that: ‘in so far as the basis of the ex turpi causa defence, as founded on public policy, is directed at deterrence it seems to me that the force of the deterrent effect is in the existence of the known rule and in its stern application. Lawyers have long known of the rule and must have advised many people of its existence.’

Lord Justice Lloyd, Lord Justice Nicholls
[1992] Ch 310, (1991) 63 P and CR 152, [1992] 2 WLR 508, [1992] 2 All ER 391
Law of Property Act 1925 193(1)
England and Wales
Citing:
Cited – Euro-Diam CA 1900
The court must bear in mind when reaching a decision, the ‘public conscience’ element, weighing, or balancing, the adverse consequences of granting relief against the adverse consequences of refusing relief. The ultimate decision calls for a value . .
Cited – Neaverson v Peterborough Rural District Council ChD 1902
The 1812 Act provided for the draining, enclosing and improving of a fen which was common land. Under the Act the grass growing on various roadways was vested in the surveyor of highways, who had power to let it for the pasturage of ‘sound and . .
Cited – George Legge and Son Ltd v Wenlock Corporation HL 1938
The question was whether the status of a natural stream could be changed to that of a sewer by the unlawful discharge for a long period of sewage into the stream. The claimant asserted that a right by way of an easement could be acquired despite the . .
Cited – Cargill v Gotts CA 1981
The Act prohibited abstraction of water from a river without a licence from the Water Authority. The defendant had no such licence, but asserted that having extracted water over many years from the mill pond, he had acquired the right to do so: ‘The . .
Cited – E R Ives Investments Ltd v High CA 14-Dec-1966
One exception to the requirement that an easement must be granted by a deed is that if permission to enjoy a right, capable of constituting an easement, is given by the landowner in terms likely to lead, and that do lead, the beneficiary of the . .
Cited – E R Ives Investments Ltd v High CA 14-Dec-1966
One exception to the requirement that an easement must be granted by a deed is that if permission to enjoy a right, capable of constituting an easement, is given by the landowner in terms likely to lead, and that do lead, the beneficiary of the . .
Cited – Glamorgan County Council v Carter QBD 1962
A caravan owner appealed against an enforcement notice on the basis that no planning permission was required because the parking of caravans was the purpose for which the land had been last used.
Held: Factually that was correct. Prima facie . .

Cited by:
Appeal from – Tinsley v Milligan HL 28-Jun-1993
Two women parties used funds generated by a joint business venture to buy a house in which they lived together. It was vested in the sole name of the plaintiff but on the understanding that they were joint beneficial owners. The purpose of the . .
Applied – Silverwood (Executor of the Estate of Daisy Silverwood) v Silverwood; and Whiteley CA 15-Apr-1997
The deceased had withdrawn a capital sum from her bank, and given it to her grandchildren before claiming income support. She had not declared the sums given away. The judge (Harry Walker) had held that there had been no gift, and that a resulting . .
Cited – Jetivia Sa and Another v Bilta (UK) Ltd and Others CA 31-Jul-2013
Defendants appealed against refusal of their request for a summary striking out for lack of jurisdiction, of the claims against them arising from their management of the insolvency of the first defendant. . .
Cited – Jetivia Sa and Another v Bilta (UK) Ltd and Others SC 22-Apr-2015
The liquidators of Bilta had brought proceedings against former directors and the appellant alleging that they were party to an unlawful means conspiracy which had damaged the company by engaging in a carousel fraud with carbon credits. On the . .
Cited – Jetivia Sa and Another v Bilta (UK) Ltd and Others CA 31-Jul-2013
Defendants appealed against refusal of their request for a summary striking out for lack of jurisdiction, of the claims against them arising from their management of the insolvency of the first defendant. . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Land, Torts – other

Leading Case

Updated: 11 November 2021; Ref: scu.193595

Southwark London Borough Council v Williams: CA 1971

No Defence of Homelessness to Squatters

The defendants, in dire need of housing accommodation entered empty houses owned by the plaintiff local authority as squatters. The court considered the defence of necessity.
Held: The proper use of abandoned council properties is best determined by political decision making processes. Squatters, in urgent need of accommodation, could not claim a defence of necessity because the peril they found themselves in was ‘an obstinate and longstanding state of affairs’, rather than an immediate or emergent threat. The court denied that if a starving beggar takes the law into his own hands and steals food he is not guilty of theft.
Lord Denning MR said: ‘If homelessness were once admitted as a defence to trespass, no one’s house could be safe. Necessity would open a door no man could shut. It would not only be those in extreme need who would enter. There would be others who would imagine they were in need or would invent a need, so as to gain entry. The plea would be an excuse for all sorts of wrongdoing. So the courts must refuse to admit the plea of necessity to the hungry and the homeless: and trust that their distress will be relieved by the charitable and good.’
Edmund Davies LJ said: ‘But when and how far is the plea of necessity available to one who is prima facie guilty of tort? Well, one thing emerges with clarity from the decisions and that is that the law regards with the deepest suspicion any remedies of self-help and permits those remedies to be resorted to only in very special circumstances. The reason for such circumspection is clear -necessity can very easily become simply a mask for anarchy.’

Lord Denning MR, Edmund-Davies LJ
[1971] 1Ch 734, [1971] 2 All ER 175, [1971] 2 WLR 467
England and Wales
Cited by:
Cited – Monsanto Plc v Tilly and Others CA 30-Nov-1999
A group carried out direct action in protesting against GM crops by pulling up the plants. The group’s media liaison officer, while not actually pulling up plants himself, ‘reconnoitred the site the day before. He met the press at a prearranged . .
Cited – In Re A (Minors) (Conjoined Twins: Medical Treatment); aka In re A (Children) (Conjoined Twins: Surgical Separation) CA 22-Sep-2000
Twins were conjoined (Siamese). Medically, both could not survive, and one was dependent upon the vital organs of the other. Doctors applied for permission to separate the twins which would be followed by the inevitable death of one of them. The . .
Cited – White v Withers Llp and Dearle CA 27-Oct-2009
The claimant was involved in matrimonial ancillary relief proceedings. His wife was advised by the defendants, her solicitors, to remove his private papers. The claimant now sought permission to appeal against a strike out of his claim against the . .
Cited – Regina v Burns, Paul CACD 27-Apr-2010
The defendant appealed against his conviction for assault. He had picked up a sex worker, driven away, but then changed his mind, and forcibly removed her from the car when she delayed. He now argued that he had the same right at common law to . .
Cited – City of London v Samede and Others QBD 18-Jan-2012
The claimant sought an order for possession of land outside St Paul’s cathedral occupied by the protestor defendants, consisting of ‘a large number of tents, between 150 and 200 at the time of the hearing, many of them used by protestors, either . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Torts – Other, Crime, Housing, Land

Leading Case

Updated: 11 November 2021; Ref: scu.183171

Banque Keyser Ullmann SA v Skandia (UK) Insurance Co Ltd: CA 1990

A loan was to be made. An agent of the borrower came to know of the fraudulent nature of the loan, but said nothing.
Held: A failure to disclose a known fraud may itself amount to a misrepresentation, but nondisclosure (whether dishonest or otherwise) does not as such give rise to a claim in damages: ‘without a misrepresentation there can be no fraud in the sense of giving rise to a claim for damages in tort’ but ‘We can see no sufficient reason on principle or authority why a failure to speak should not be capable of giving rise to liability in negligence under Hedley Byrne principles, provided that the two essential conditions are satisfied.’ The two essential conditions were ‘that there has been on the facts a voluntary assumption of responsibility in the relevant sense and reliance on that assumption.’ and ‘These features may be much more difficult to infer in a case of mere silence than in a case of misrepresentation.’

Slade LJ
[1990] 1 QB 665
England and Wales
Cited by:
Appeal from – Banque Keyser Ullmann SA v Skandia (UK) Insurance Co Ltd HL 1991
Banks had made loans against property which the borrower had said was valuable, and, also insurance policies against any shortfall on the realisation of the property. The borrower was a swindler and the property worthless. The insurers relied upon a . .
Cited – HIH Casualty and General Insurance Limited and others v Chase Manhattan Bank and others HL 20-Feb-2003
The insurance company had paid claims on policies used to underwrite the production of TV films. The re-insurers resisted the claims against them by the insurers on the grounds of non-disclosure by the insured, or in the alternative damages for . .
Cited – Hamilton and others v Allied Domecq Plc (Scotland) HL 11-Jul-2007
The pursuers had been shareholders in a company which sold spring water. The defenders took shares in the company in return for promises as to the promotion and distribution of the bottled water. The pursuers said that they had failed to promote it . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Contract, Torts – Other

Leading Case

Updated: 11 November 2021; Ref: scu.219300

Beaman v ARTS Ltd: CA 1949

The italian plaintiff had left Egland in 1935 leaving certain valuables with the defendants for safe keeping. During the war, the property was released to the authorities as alien property, who, informed by the defemdant that they were of no value, gave them to the Salvation Army. The plaintiff returned in 1946, and after discovering the history, began proceedings for conversion, saying that the action was not defeated by limitation for fraud.
Held: The actions of the defendants were not fraudulent as such sop that section 26(a) of the 1939 Act did not operate. However, the defendants had made no attempt to obtain the plaintiff’s instructions, before disposing of the property as a matter of their own convenience, and in breach of the duty of confidence accepted. Their failure to inform the plaintoff of what they had done did amount to a reckless ‘concealment by fraud’ with section 26(b), and the action could proceed.

Lord Greene
[1949] 1 KB 550, [1949] 1 All ER 465, 65 TLR 389, 93 Sol Jo 236
Limitation Act 1939 26(a) 26(b)
England and Wales
Citing:
Cited – The Bulli Coal Mining Company v Patrick Hill Osbourne and Another PC 1899
(New South Wales) . .

Cited by:
Cited – Cave v Robinson Jarvis and Rolf (a Firm) HL 25-Apr-2002
An action for negligence against a solicitor was defended by saying that the claim was out of time. The claimant responded that the solicitor had not told him of the circumstances which would lead to the claim, and that deliberate concealment should . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Torts – Other, Limitation

Leading Case

Updated: 11 November 2021; Ref: scu.194819

Mezvinsky and Another v Associated Newspapers Ltd: ChD 25 May 2018

Choice of Division and Business Lists

Claim that the publication of pictures of the young children of the celebrity claimants had been published by the defendant on-line without consent and without pixelation, in breach of their human rights, of data protection, and right to privacy. The defendants now sought the transfer of the case to the Queens Bench Division.
Held: There is concurrent jurisdiction between the two divisions for issuing a privacy claim. The creation of the Media and Communications List was not under the CPR: it is a means by which work that is already within the Queen’s Bench Division is allocated for its proper performance. The creation of the M and CL has no direct extra-divisional effect.’ The application was refused. It had been made in part on mistaken assumptions, and: ‘There is no basis for concluding that the Queen’s Bench Division M and CL is the appropriate, or the more appropriate, venue for this claim. Both the Business List (ChD) and the Queen’s Bench M and CL are appropriate. There are no good reasons to transfer the claim and disturb the legitimate choice made by the claimants at the point the claim was issued.’

Marsh CM
[2018] EWHC 1261 (Ch)
Bailii
Senior Courts Act 1981, Civil Procedure Rules 30
England and Wales
Citing:
Cited – NATL Amusements (UK) Ltd and Others v White City (Shepherds Bush) Ltd Partnership and Another TCC 16-Oct-2009
Application for transfer of claim from QBD to TCC. Akenhead J considered an application to transfer a claim from the Chancery Division to the Technology and Construction Court. After reviewing the authorities, he said: ‘It is probably unnecessary to . .
Cited – Appleby Global Group Llc v British Broadcasting Corporation and Another ChD 26-Jan-2018
Claim by international firm of lawyers for breach of confidence against publishers who had received and published that information. The court now considered which division of the High Court should hear the claim.
Held: Rose J considered the . .
Cited – Douglas and others v Hello! Ltd and others (No 3) CA 18-May-2005
The principal claimants sold the rights to take photographs of their wedding to a co-claimant magazine (OK). Persons acting on behalf of the defendants took unauthorised photographs which the defendants published. The claimants had retained joint . .
Cited – Murray v Big Pictures (UK) Ltd; Murray v Express Newspapers CA 7-May-2008
The claimant, a famous writer, complained on behalf of her infant son that he had been photographed in a public street with her, and that the photograph had later been published in a national newspaper. She appealed an order striking out her claim . .
Cited – Rocknroll v News Group Newspapers Ltd ChD 17-Jan-2013
The claimant sought an order to restrain the defendant from publishing embarrassing photographs taken at a private party. He had taken an assignment of the copyright from the photographer.
Held: The court considered whether the extent to which . .
Cited – Gulati and Others v MGN Limited ChD 21-May-2015
The claimants each claimed that their mobile phones had been hacked by or on behalf of the defendant newspaper group. The claims had now in substance been admitted, and the court set out to assess the damages (and aggravated damages) to be paid.
Cited – Appleby Global Group Llc v British Broadcasting Corporation and Another ChD 26-Jan-2018
Claim by international firm of lawyers for breach of confidence against publishers who had received and published that information. The court now considered which division of the High Court should hear the claim.
Held: Rose J considered the . .
Cited – CRE v Justis Publishing Ltd 20-Mar-2017
The defendant company published case law. The claimant’s case had been anonymised, but the defendant published a version of the judgment from which it was possible to identify him (or her). An order had been made to transfer the case to the County . .
Cited – Ali and Another v Channel 5 Broadcast Ltd ChD 22-Feb-2018
The claimants said that a filming of their eviction from property was an invasion of their privacy.
Held: The Claimants did have a reasonable expectation of privacy in respect of the information included in the Programme about which they . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Media, Intellectual Property, Information, Torts – Other, Human Rights, Litigation Practice

Updated: 10 November 2021; Ref: scu.616902

Castle and Others v Commissioner of Police for The Metropolis: Admn 8 Sep 2011

The claimants, all under 17 years old, took a peaceful part in a substantial but disorderly demonstration in London. The police decided to contain the section of crowd which included the claimants. The claimants said that the containment of children was unlawful within section 11 of the 2004 Act, and had been excessive in time.
Held: The claims failed. A police officer will not be deterred from performing his public duty to detect or prevent crime just because a child is affected but when he does perform that duty he must, as the circumstances require, have regard to the statutory need under the 2004 Act: ‘section 11 Children Act 2004 requires chief officers of police to carry out their functions in a way that takes into account the need to safeguard and promote the welfare of children . . However . . we do not consider that the defendant was in breach of this duty or of any of his public law duties.’ There was evidence that many in the crowd were armed, and much delay was caused by searching protesters as they were released: ‘the claim based upon unlawful detention at common law and interference with the claimants’ right to liberty under Articles 5 must fail.’
‘The chief officer’s statutory obligation is not confined to training and dissemination of information. It is to ensure that decisions affecting children have regard to the need to safeguard them and to promote their welfare.’ . . But . . ‘This does not mean that the duties and functions of the police have been re-defined by section 11 . . the guidance accurately states the obligation of chief officers of police ‘to carry out their existing functions in a way which takes into account the need to safeguard and promote the welfare of children’.’

Pitchford LJ, Supperstone J
[2011] EWHC 2317 (Admin), [2014] 1 All ER 953
Bailii
Children Act 2004 11, Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 60, European Convention on Human Rights 5 8 19 11
England and Wales
Citing:
Cited – Austin and Another v Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis HL 28-Jan-2009
The claimants had been present during a demonstration policed by the respondent. They appealed against dismissal of their claims for false imprisonment having been prevented from leaving Oxford Circus for over seven hours. The claimants appealed . .
Cited – TS, Regina (on The Application of) v Secretary of State for The Home Department Admn 26-Oct-2010
The claimant had sought asylum as a child, declaring that he had not applied for asylum elsewhere. His fingerprints were matched to an applicant in Belgium.
Held: Wyn Williams J construed section 55 and the statutory guidance referred to in . .
Cited – Laporte, Regina (on the application of ) v Chief Constable of Gloucestershire HL 13-Dec-2006
The claimants had been in coaches being driven to take part in a demonstration at an air base. The defendant police officers stopped the coaches en route, and, without allowing any number of the claimants to get off, returned the coaches to London. . .
Cited – Austin and Another v Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis CA 15-Oct-2007
The claimants appealed dismissal of their claims for false imprisonment and unlawful detention by the respondent in his policing of a demonstration. They had been held within a police cordon in the streets for several hours to prevent the spread of . .
Cited – Re E (Children) (Abduction: Custody Appeal) SC 10-Jun-2011
Two children were born in Norway to a British mother (M) and Norwegian father (F). Having lived in Norway, M brought them to England to stay, but without F’s knowledge or consent. M replied to his application for their return that the children would . .
Cited – Austin and Another v Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis HL 28-Jan-2009
The claimants had been present during a demonstration policed by the respondent. They appealed against dismissal of their claims for false imprisonment having been prevented from leaving Oxford Circus for over seven hours. The claimants appealed . .
Cited – Moos and Another, Regina (on The Application of) v Commissioner of the Police of The Metropolis Admn 14-Apr-2011
The claimants, demonstrators at the G20 summit, complained of the police policy of kettling, the containment of a crowd over a period of time, not because they were expected to to behave unlawfully, but to ensure a separation from those who were. . .
Cited – Lumba (WL) v Secretary of State for The Home Department SC 23-Mar-2011
The claimants had been detained under the 1971 Act, after completing sentences of imprisonment pending their return to their home countries under deportations recommended by the judges at trial, or chosen by the respondent. They challenged as . .
Cited – Pieretti v London Borough of Enfield CA 12-Oct-2010
The claimant sought a declaration that the duty set out in the 1995 Act applies to the discharge of duties, and to the exercise of powers, by local housing authorities under Part VII of the Housing Act 1996 being the part entitled ‘Homelessness’. . .
Cited – ZH (Tanzania) v Secretary of State for The Home Department SC 1-Feb-2011
The respondent had arrived and claimed asylum. Three claims were rejected, two of which were fraudulent. She had two children by a UK citizen, and if deported the result would be (the father being unsuitable) that the children would have to return . .

Cited by:
Cited – Nzolameso v City of Westminster SC 2-Apr-2015
The court was asked ‘When is it lawful for a local housing authority to accommodate a homeless person a long way away from the authority’s own area where the homeless person was previously living? ‘ The claimant said that on applying for housing she . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Torts – Other, Police, Children, Human Rights

Updated: 10 November 2021; Ref: scu.443762

Hussain v West Mercia Constabulary: CA 3 Nov 2008

The claimant taxi driver complained of misfeasance in public office in the way the defendant had responded to the several calls for assistance made by him to the police.
Held: His appeal against the striking out failed. The damages pleaded were nominal at best and did not justify the expense of a trial. Transient physical symptoms caused by anxiety or stress did not amount either to psychiatric or physical injury and were insufficient to constitute material damage, an essential ingredient of the tort of misfeasance in public office. The claimant had other and more appropriate remedies.

Sir Anthony Clarke, Master of the Rolls, Lord Justice Maurice Kay and Lord Justice Stanley Burnton
[2008] EWCA Civ 1205
Bailii, Times
England and Wales
Citing:
Cited – McLoughlin v O’Brian HL 6-May-1982
The plaintiff was the mother of a child who died in an horrific accident, in which her husband and two other children were also injured. She was at home at the time of the accident, but went to the hospital immediately when she had heard what had . .
Cited – Watkins v Home Office and others HL 29-Mar-2006
The claimant complained of misfeasance in public office by the prisons for having opened and read protected correspondence whilst he was in prison. The respondent argued that he had suffered no loss. The judge had found that bad faith was . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Torts – Other, Police

Updated: 10 November 2021; Ref: scu.277383

Ali Hussein v Secretary of State for Defence: Admn 1 Feb 2013

The claimant sought to challenge the legality of techniques of interrogation intended to be used by forces members detaining person captured in Afghanistan. He had himself been mistreated by such officers in Iraq. The defendant denied he had standing to challenge a policy which would not affect him. He said it was in issue of such importance that it must be litigated.
Held: The claim failed: ‘whether or not treatment in interrogation can be regarded as unlawful will depend on whether it contravenes a prohibition on treatment which would be regarded as inhumane. A useful guide can be obtained from Article 3 of the ECHR since it is clear that any physical ill-treatment of a detainee is likely to contravene it and other forms of coercion may, if sufficiently serious. I have no doubt that if used in accordance with and applying the controls required by the policy the use of Challenge Direct cannot be regarded as a breach of the obligation of humane treatment. ‘

Hallett LJ DBE, Collins J
[2013] EWHC 95 (Admin)
Bailii
England and Wales
Citing:
Cited – Trendtex Trading Corporation v Central Bank of Nigeria CA 1977
The court considered the developing international jurisdiction over commercial activities of state bodies which might enjoy state immunity, and sought to ascertain whether or not the Central Bank of Nigeria was entitled to immunity from suit.
Cited – Equality and Human Rights Commission v Prime Minister and Others Admn 3-Oct-2011
The defendant had published a set of guidelines for intelligence officers called upon to detain and interrogate suspects. The defendant said that the guidelines could only be tested against individual real life cases, and that the court should not . .
Cited – Regina v Mushtaq HL 21-Apr-2005
The defendant was convicted of fraud charges. He sought to have excluded statements made in interview on the basis that they had been obtained by oppressive behaviour by the police. His wife was very seriously ill in hospital and he had made the . .
Cited – Regina v Fulling CACD 1987
It was alleged that evidence had been obtained by police oppression. She had at first refused to answer questions, but an officer talked to her during a break between interviews, telling her that her lover had been having an affair. The . .
Cited – The Refugee Legal Centre, Regina (on the Application of) v Secretary of State for the Home Department CA 12-Nov-2004
The applicant alleged that the fast track system of selecting and dealing with unmeritorious asylum claims was unfair and unlawful.
Held: The system was not inherently unfair and therefore unlawful and clear written instructions would suffice . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Armed Forces, Torts – Other

Leading Case

Updated: 10 November 2021; Ref: scu.470696

Cordoba Shipping Co Ltd v National State Bank, Elizabeth, New Jersey (The Albaforth): CA 1984

A negligent misrepresentation was made in a telex sent from the United States but received and acted upon in England. The judge had set aside leave to serve the document out of the jurisdiction.
Held: The appeal succeeded. The transmission was a tort committed within the jurisdiction within the meaning of Order 11 rule 1(1)(h).
Robert Goff LJ said: ‘If the substance of the alleged tort is committed within a certain jurisdiction, it is not easy to imagine what other fact could displace the conclusion that the courts of that jurisdiction are the natural forum’ and
”Now it follows from those decisions that, where it is held that a Court has jurisdiction on the basis that an alleged tort has been committed within the jurisdiction of the Court, the test which has been satisfied in order to reach that conclusion is one founded on the basis that the Court, so having jurisdiction, is the most appropriate Court to try the claim, where it is manifestly just and reasonable that the defendant should answer for his wrongdoing. This being so, it must usually be difficult in any particular case to resist the conclusion that a Court which has jurisdiction on that basis must also be the natural forum for the trial of the action. If the substance of an alleged tort is committed within a certain jurisdiction, it is not easy to imagine what other facts could displace the conclusion that the courts of that jurisdiction are the natural forum.’
Ackner LJ said: ‘the jurisdiction in which a tort has been committed is prima facie the natural forum for the determination of the dispute. England is thus the natural forum for the resolution of this dispute.’

Ackner LJ, Robert Goff LJ
[1984] 2 Lloyd’s LR 91
England and Wales
Cited by:
Cited – Lewis and others v King CA 19-Oct-2004
The claimant sought damages for defamation for an article published on the Internet. The claimant Don King sued in London even though he lived in the US as did the defendants.
Held: A publication via the internet occurred when the material was . .
Cited – Cooley v Ramsey QBD 1-Feb-2008
The claimant sought damages after being severely injured in a road traffic accident in Australia caused by the defendant. The defendant denied that the court had jurisdiction to permit service out of the jurisdiction. The claimant said that the . .
Cited – Batey v Todd Engineering (Staffs) Ltd QBNI 7-Mar-1998
. .
Cited – Base Metal Trading Ltd v Shamurin ComC 21-Nov-2001
. .
Cited – Douglas, Zeta-Jones, Northern and Shell Plc v Hello! Ltd, Hola Sa, Junco, The Marquesa De Varela, Neneta Overseas Ltd, Ramey ChD 27-Jan-2003
The claimants sought an order striking out the defendants’ defence on the grounds that, by destroying documents, the possibility of a fair trial had been prejudiced.
Held: Refusing the order, save as to certain paragraphs of the defence, the . .
Cited – Base Metal Trading Ltd v Shamurin ComC 22-Oct-2003
. .
Cited – Base Metal Trading Ltd v Shamurin CA 14-Oct-2004
The claimant sought damages from what were said to be speculative trades carried out by the defendant whilst working in Russia. The claims were in both equity and in tort. He was a director of the company which was incorporated in Guernsey.
Cited – Berezovsky v Forbes Inc and Michaels; Glouchkov v Same HL 16-May-2000
Plaintiffs who lived in Russia sought damages for defamation against an American magazine with a small distribution in England. Both plaintiffs had real connections with and reputations in England. A judgment in Russia would do nothing to repair the . .
Cited – VTB Capital Plc v Nutritek International Corp and Others SC 6-Feb-2013
The claimant bank said that it had been induced to create very substantial lending facilities by fraudulent misrepresentation by the defendants. They now appealed against findings that England was not clearly or distinctly the appropriate forum for . .
Cited – VTB Capital Plc v Nutritek International Corp and Others SC 6-Feb-2013
The claimant bank said that it had been induced to create very substantial lending facilities by fraudulent misrepresentation by the defendants. They now appealed against findings that England was not clearly or distinctly the appropriate forum for . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Torts – Other, Jurisdiction

Leading Case

Updated: 10 November 2021; Ref: scu.220026

The Koursk: CA 1924

The navigators of two ships had committed two separate torts or one tort in which they were both tortfeasors.
Held: Three situations were identified where A might be jointly liable with B for B’s tortious act. Where A was master and B servant; where A was principal and B agent; and where the two were concerned in a joint act done in pursuance of a common purpose: ‘Certain classes of persons seem clearly to be ‘joint tortfeasors’: The agent who commits a tort within the scope of his employment for his principal, and the principal; the servant who commits a tort in the course of his employment, and his master; two persons who agree on common action, in the course of, and to further which, one of them commits a tort. These seem clearly joint tortfeasors; there is one tort committed by one of them on behalf of, or in concert with another.’ and ‘I am of the opinion that the definition in Clerk and Lindsell on Torts, 7th ed., p59, is much nearer the correct view : ‘Persons are said to be joint tortfeasors when their respective shares in the commission of the tort are done in furtherance of a common design’ . . ‘but mere similarity of design on the part of independent actors, causing independent damage, is not enough; there must be concerted action to a common end.’

Scrutton LJ
[1924] P 140
England and Wales
Cited by:
Cited – Generale Bank Nederland Nv (Formerly Credit Lyonnais Bank Nederland Nv) v Export Credits Guarantee Department HL 19-Feb-1999
The wrong of the servant or agent for which the master or principal is liable is one committed in the case of a servant in the course of his employment, and in the case of an agent in the course of his authority. It is fundamental to the whole . .
Cited – Brooke v Bool 1928
Volunteer Was Joint Tortfeasor
A and B set out together to investigate the source of a gas leak which was B’s direct concern alone. A had come with him to help. Because B was too old to carry out a particular task, A carried it out instead. The means of investigation was . .
Cited – Unilever Plc v Gillette (UK) Limited CA 1989
Unilever claimed infringement of its patent. The court was asked whether there was a good arguable case against the United States parent company of the existing defendant sufficient to justify the parent company to be joined as a defendant and to . .
Cited – MCA Records Inc and Another v Charly Records Ltd and others (No 5) CA 5-Oct-2001
The court discussed the personal liability of a director for torts committed by his company: ‘i) a director will not be treated as liable with the company as a joint tortfeasor if he does no more than carry out his constitutional role in the . .
Cited – CBS Songs Ltd v Amstrad Consumer Electronics Plc HL 12-May-1988
The plaintiffs as representatives sought to restrain Amstrad selling equipment with two cassette decks without taking precautions which would reasonably ensure that their copyrights would not be infringed by its users.
Held: Amstrad could only . .
Cited – Fish and Fish Ltd v Sea Shepherd UK and Another AdCt 25-Jun-2012
The claimant company was engaged in tuna fish culture off shore to Malta. The defendant ship was owned by a charity which campaigned against breaches of animal preservation conventions. Fish were being transporting live blue fin tuna in towed . .
Cited – Sea Shepherd UK v Fish and Fish Ltd SC 4-Mar-2015
Accessory Liability in Tort
The court considered the concept of accessory liability in tort. Activists had caused damage to vessels of the respondent which was transporting live tuna in cages, and had caused considerable damage. The appellant company owned the ship from which . .
Cited – Fish and Fish Ltd v Sea Shepherd Uk and Others CA 16-May-2013
The claimant company sought damages after their transport of live tuna was attacked by a protest group. They now appealed against a decision that the company owning the attacking ship was not liable as a joint tortfeasor.
Held: The appeal was . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Vicarious Liability, Torts – Other

Leading Case

Updated: 10 November 2021; Ref: scu.183581

Downs and Another v Chappell and Another: CA 3 Apr 1996

The plaintiffs had suceeded in variously establishing claims in deceit and negligence, but now appealed against the finding that no damages had flowed from the wrongs. They had been sold a business on the basis of incorrect figures.
Held: Where a plaintiff has been induced to enter into a transaction by a misrepresentation, whether fraudulent or negligent, he is entitled to recover as damages the amount of the (consequential) loss which he has suffered by reason of entering into the transaction. The principle is the same. Where the representation relates to the profitability and, by necessary inference, the viability of the business, the plaintiff can recover both his income and his capital losses in the business.
‘Causation and the assessment of damages is a matter of fact. In a misrepresentation case, where the plaintiff would not have entered into the transaction, he is entitled to recover all the losses he has suffered, both capital and income, down to the date that he discovers that he had been misled and he has an opportunity to avoid further loss. The diminution in value test will normally be inappropriate. Where what is bought is a business the losses made in the business are prima facie recoverable as is the reduction in the value of the business and its premises. Foreseeable market fluctuations are not too remote and should be taken into account either way in the relevant account. These cases do not however discuss whether there is any question of causation beyond the no-transaction test. In my judgment it may still be necessary to consider whether it can fairly and properly be said that all the losses flowing from the entry into the transaction in question were caused by the tort of the defendant. ‘

Butler-Sloss, Roch, Hobhouse LJJ
[1996] EWCA Civ 1358, [1996] 3 All ER 344, [1996] CLC 1492, [1997] 1 WLR 426
Bailii
England and Wales
Citing:
Cited – Doyle v Olby (Ironmongers) Ltd CA 31-Jan-1969
The plaintiff had been induced by the fraudulent misrepresentation of the defendant to buy an ironmonger’s business for 4,500 pounds plus stock at a valuation of 5,000 pounds. Shortly after the purchase, he discovered the fraud and started the . .
Cited – Esso Petroleum Company Ltd v Mardon CA 6-Feb-1976
Statements had been made by employees of Esso in the course of pre-contractual negotiations with Mr Mardon, the prospective tenant of a petrol station. The statements related to the potential throughput of the station. Mr Mardon was persuaded by the . .
Cited – County Personnel (Employment Agency) Ltd v Alan R Pulver and Co (a Firm) CA 1987
The claimant sought damages after his negligent solicitors had saddled him with a ruinous underlease. They had had to buy themselves out of the lease. The court considered the date at which damages were to be calculated.
Held: The starting . .
Cited – Hayes and Another v Dodd CA 7-Jul-1988
The court considered what damages might be paid for inconvenience and distress. . .
Cited – Naughton v O’Callaghan 1990
Damages Award to Restore Plaintiff’s Poistion
In 1981 the plaintiffs had bought a thoroughbred yearling colt called ‘Fondu’ for 26,000 guineas. In fact a mistake had been made and its pedigree was not as represented. Its true pedigree made it suitable only for dirt track racing in the United . .
Cited – Livingstone v Rawyards Coal Co HL 13-Feb-1880
Damages or removal of coal under land
User damages were awarded for the unauthorised removal of coal from beneath the appellant’s land, even though the site was too small for the appellant to have mined the coal himself. The appellant was also awarded damages for the damage done to the . .
Cited – The United Motor Finance Company v Messrs Addison and Company Limited PC 10-Dec-1936
(Madras) ‘Nor can they [the dealers] modify the resulting damages on the footing that though in the absence of misrepresentation the plaintiff firm [the finance company] would not have made the contract with the defendants [the dealers] or with the . .
Cited – Phillips v Ward CA 1956
A negligent survey had been provided to prospective purchasers of a house. It would have cost andpound;7,000 to put the property into the condition in which it had been described in the report.
Held: The correct measure of damages was not . .
Cited – Perry v Sidney Phillips and Son CA 1982
In 1982 the surveyor failed to observe serious defects, including a leaking roof and a septic tank with an offensive smell. The plaintiff purchaser could not afford major repairs and executed only minor repairs himself. At the date of the trial the . .
Cited – Johnson v Agnew HL 1979
The seller had obtained a summary order for specific performance of a contract for the sale of land against the buyer.
Held: The breach was continuing and was still capable of being remedied by compliance with the order for specific . .
Cited – Banque Bruxelles Lambert Sa v Eagle Star Insurance Co Ltd and Others CA 24-Feb-1995
The plaintiffs were mortgagees. The defendants were valuers. The defendants negligently over-valued properties and the plaintiffs then accepted mortgages of the properties. Later the property market collapsed and the various borrowers defaulted and . .
Cited – Watts and Co v Morrow CA 30-Jul-1991
The plaintiff had bought a house on the faith of the defendant’s report that there were only limited defects requiring repair. In fact the defects were much more extensive. The defendant surveyor appealed against an award of damages after his . .
Cited – East v Maurer CA 1991
The plaintiffs had bought a hair dressing salon from the defendant, who continued to trade from another he owned, despite telling the plaintiffs that he intended not to. The plaintiffs lost business to the defendant. They invested to try to make a . .
Cited – Johnson v Agnew HL 1979
The seller had obtained a summary order for specific performance of a contract for the sale of land against the buyer.
Held: The breach was continuing and was still capable of being remedied by compliance with the order for specific . .
Cited – Corporation of Sheffield v Barclay and Others HL 3-Jul-1905
Lord Davey said: ‘I think that the appellants [Sheffield Corporation] have a statutory duty to register all valid transfers, and on the demand of the transferee to issue to him a fresh certificate of title to the stock comprised therein. But, of . .
Cited – Dodd Properties (Kent) Ltd v Canterbury City Council CA 21-Dec-1979
The defendants had, in the course of building operations, caused nuisance and damage to the plaintiff’s building. The dispute was very lengthy, the costs of repair increased accordingly, and the parties now disputed the date at which damages fell to . .

Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.

Torts – Other, Damages

Leading Case

Updated: 09 November 2021; Ref: scu.567829