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Japanese Knotweed Victim Wins Compensation in Landmark Nuisance Case

Landowners should sit up and take notice of the Court of Appeal's ground-breaking decision to award thousands of pounds in compensation to a property investor, the value of whose land was blighted by notoriously invasive Japanese knotweed. The case...

Company Director Relieved of Six-Figure VAT Returns Inaccuracy Penalty

Directors whose companies fail to make accurate VAT returns can expect to receive stiff financial penalties – but only if such failures are deliberate. In a guideline case, a tax tribunal adopted a narrow interpretation of that word in relieving an...

Domicile - Tax Tribunal Delves Back into a Century of Family History

Discerning where an individual is domiciled for tax purposes can involve delving far back into his or her family history. In a case on point, a tax tribunal's inquiries began with the birth of a wealthy businessman's father in Austria at the end of the First...

'Minor Human Errors' Stymie Bid for Multi-Million-Pound NHS Contracts

In public procurement exercises, the tricky business of uploading bids to e-tendering sites can be rendered more hazardous by leaving it to the last moment. In a case on point , a series of minor human errors led to a missed deadline and the loss of a...

High Court Opens Way for Teenager to Undergo Gender Surgery Abroad

Any proposal for a child to have gender surgery is likely to be subject to close judicial scrutiny. In opening the way for a teenager to undergo a double mastectomy abroad, however, the High Court reminded local authorities that they must always treat the...

Commercial Property Owner Charged for Non-Existent Drainage Services

A commercial property owner who for years shelled out for drainage bills that it was never obliged to pay must be reimbursed every penny. That was the effect of an important High Court ruling in which utility companies were found to have been unjustly...

Family Judge Intervenes to Protect Unborn Child of HIV-Positive Mother

In rare and exceptional cases, family courts have to intervene to protect the welfare of children even before they are brought into the world. A judge did just that in the case of a baby boy who was at high risk of being born HIV positive . The boy's...

Pensioner with 'Mild Cognitive Impairment' Capable of Making a Valid Will

To make a valid will, you need a certain level of mental capacity. However, as a High Court ruling showed, a flawless memory is not required and those suffering from mild cognitive impairment may not be disqualified from expressing their wishes. The case...

Design Rights - Supermarkets Battle Over 'Strikingly' Similar Gin Bottles

Fierce competition between retailers, particularly during the Christmas period, has a tendency to spill over into intellectual property disputes. Exactly that happened in a High Court case concerning design rights in festive bottles of gin . A supermarket...

Let Down by a Cowboy Builder? Your Complaints Should Not Go Unheard

So-called 'cowboy' builders who demand overpayment for delayed and shoddy work are a curse on householders. However, as a Court of Appeal ruling showed , the law takes a tough line with dishonest tradespeople. The case concerned a builder's work for four...
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