In a recent case, Plymouth Hospital NHS Trust was ordered to pay compensation to a patient after one of its employees unlawfully gained access to the man’s medical records. The nurse who accessed the data was the man’s partner at the time. The...

When a severely depressed woman attended hospital as a voluntary patient but then discharged herself and subsequently committed suicide, did the hospital breach her human rights by permitting her to leave? The Supreme Court has unanimously held that in...

With only a couple of months to go before the London 2012 Olympic Games commence on 27 July 2012, employers are reminded of the importance of having a clear policy in place to handle last-minute requests for time off work or to work flexibly in order to...

Having too much, too soon has been the cause of the ruin of many a life. Worried that this might be the fate awaiting her child, a mother recently went to court to delay the entitlement of her three-year-old son to an estate of nearly £750,000, which...

When a developer sought to make use of a 37-year-old planning permission because it had ‘commenced building work’ within five years of the permission being granted, the Court of Appeal was unimpressed . In 1974, the developer had obtained...

When a plan is attached to a conveyance, it is often marked ‘for identification purposes only’ in order to ensure that the plan is not considered to be the definitive record of the property being conveyed. Recently, a dispute reached court ...

The European Commission has published its framework for modernising data protection legislation across the EU. The General Data Protection Regulation will replace the EC Data Protection Directive, which is implemented in the UK by the Data Protection Act...

A compromise agreement is a legally binding agreement by which an employee undertakes to refrain from instigating Employment Tribunal (ET) proceedings against his or her employer or, if proceedings have already commenced, to discontinue them, in return for...

A recent tax case shows the lengths HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) will go to when they think there is tax to be gained by adopting an aggressive attitude with taxpayers. It involved a family, consisting of a mother and her three children, who owned a...

A worker who developed asbestosis after being exposed to high levels of asbestos between 1959 and 1961 was unable to pursue a personal injury claim against his former employer, which was dissolved some years ago, owing to an ‘asbestos exclusion...

In general, rents on property are exempt supplies for VAT purposes. However, a landlord often supplies other services to tenants, such as cleaning and maintenance. These services are usually subject to VAT. When supplies of a VATable and a non-VATable...

The Court of Protection has refused a request to make financial arrangements for a young man lacking mental capacity because there was no clear benefit to him of the proposed arrangements. The young man, now 21, received more than £2 million in...

When the owner of a property failed to register a right of access, trouble was in store. The claimant owned a property (number 37) which was separated from the property next door (number 35) by an alleyway. This was owned by the owner of number 35. After...

A case recently heard by the Court of Appeal illustrates that long-running litigation can result when a will is home made. The decision also contains useful guidance on what is required for a will to be valid when it is not signed by the testator...

The aggregates, cement and ready-mixed concrete industries are the latest to come under the spotlight of the Competition Commission. The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has identified a number of concerns, not least of which is that five companies control 90...

Whether a holiday is a ‘package’ or just a booking of travel arrangements can make a big difference when it comes to the legal position if something goes wrong. A recent case shows why. It involved a man and his girlfriend, who were seeking a...

A recent case in the Court of Appeal illustrates the extent to which property owners will go to protect what they perceive to be the boundaries of their property, which in this instance led Lord Justice Mummery to refer to ‘the territorial imperative...

In Bivonas LLP and others v Bennett , the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) has upheld the decision of the Employment Tribunal (ET) that a gay barrister had been discriminated against on grounds of his sexual orientation. Lee Bennett joined Bivonas LLP as...

Having rejected the findings of a report it commissioned into the parenting of children after divorce, the Government has thrown into doubt the whole area of how this issue will be dealt with in future. The Government recently issued its response to the...

Computer programs have been at the centre of many legal disputes. Although the program itself is subject to the laws of copyright, creating a program that does what another program does is not a breach of copyright. The reason for this is that copyright law...

The laws of intestacy that apply in Scotland are not the same as those in England and Wales. However, following recent changes to the laws in England and Wales relating to the entitlement of relatives in intestacy, the Scottish Government decided to amend...

When a member of staff is on a temporary assignment, they are allowed to receive travel and subsistence payments (within certain limits) free of Income Tax (IT) and National Insurance Contributions (NICs) for up to 24 months. Similarly, where a salary...

A Scottish charity, Enable Scotland, has given an undertaking to take specific action to improve its compliance with the Data Protection Act 1998 (DPA) after two unencrypted memory sticks and papers containing the personal details of 101 people were stolen...

Currently, any employee who has completed one year of continuous employment and who ‘has, or expects to have responsibility, for a child’ is entitled to take up to four weeks’ unpaid parental leave per year while their child is under age...

Under changes to pensions rules recently announced by HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC), those aged 60 or over now have the option of taking a lump sum from personal pensions with a value of £2,000 or less. Although pension plans are designed to provide...