There has recently been a further case on long-term sickness and a worker’s right to accrue untaken annual holiday leave ( Fraser v Southwest London St George’s Mental Health Trust ). Mrs Fraser was on long-term sick leave after she injured her...

Although pre-nuptial agreements are persuasive rather than binding in the British courts, a recent ruling of the High Court on a French ‘pre-nup’ illustrates clearly the current approach of the courts. It involved a very wealthy French couple...

When a property is owned by two people as joint tenants (where the title to the property is owned by each of them, so that if one dies, the other inherits the property by survivorship), each of them is considered to be the legal owner of the property. A man...

Creating a commercial database and keeping it up to date is an expensive business and owners of such databases often take precautions to make sure they are not used without permission. One method of doing this is for the owners of databases to plant...

A North Somerset man has received a six-figure sum in compensation after a mistake during an operation on his heart led to him having to have a pacemaker fitted. Steve Edwards, 51, an NHS manager from Weston-super-Mare, was undergoing treatment for an...

When a supplier to a marquee company was not paid for goods it had supplied, the directors told the supplier that the company was waiting for an insurance claim to be settled, after which payments would be made as usual. In reality, there was no insurance...

The wave of litigation which has followed the turmoil in the financial markets as a result of the credit crunch has led to many decisions that have resulted in those suing financial institutions being left to lick their wounds (and also facing sizeable legal...

A court ruling that a spouse’s lottery winnings were not ‘matrimonial property’ so were not subject to the usual rule of equal division between the spouses when the marriage broke up received much publicity recently. The normal rule on...

The Supreme Court has denied HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) the right of appeal in a tax case involving a series of transactions that were carried out for no commercial purpose but which led to a tax saving by the taxpayer. The decision represents a blow for...

The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) has now published its response to the recent consultation on proposals to criminalise squatting. The consultation paper, entitled ‘Options for dealing with squatting’ , received over 2,000 responses. As a first...

Under the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 (now superseded by the Equality Act 2010 ), when deciding whether or not an employer took sufficient steps to comply with its duty to make reasonable adjustments to remove a disadvantage faced by a disabled...

HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) have announced that the Mortgage Verification Scheme (MVS), which was developed in co-operation with the Council of Mortgage Lenders and the Building Societies Association and run as a pilot scheme in March 2010, is now fully...

When a Jersey multi-millionaire gave most of his assets away to one of his daughters in the months prior to his death, leaving an estate of less than £100,000 to be shared by all three of his children, it was perhaps inevitable that a legal challenge...

The Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) (Amendment) Regulations 2011 , which came into force on 26 May 2011, made changes to the rules that apply to websites using cookies and similar technologies to remember a user’s preferences....

The scheme set up by the Government to assess the value of Northern Rock shares, for the purposes of deciding whether or not compensation was due to shareholders, concluded that without government support the shares would be valueless. A group of...

The Bribery Act 2010 came into force on 1 July 2011. Under Section 2 of the Act, it is an offence for a person to request, agree to receive or accept a financial or other advantage intending that, in consequence, a relevant function or activity should be...

In Williamson & Soden Solicitors v Briars , the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) considered the employment status of a solicitor who was described as a partner of the firm and whose remuneration was by way of a ‘guaranteed profit share’...

HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) have had difficulties in the past in checking on property sales to ensure that the ‘principal private residence’ exemption for Capital Gains Tax (CGT) is being used correctly. Notwithstanding the complexity of the...

HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) have announced that, from 1 January 2012, supplies made by employers under salary sacrifice schemes (schemes whereby an employee accepts a lower salary in return for receiving certain benefits) will be treated as taxable...

When a marriage or civil partnership breaks up and there is a significant risk that one party may move assets (normally cash in bank accounts) ‘out of sight’, it is sometimes possible to obtain a ‘freezing order’ to prevent the sums...

The Forum of Private Business (FPB) has reported a noticeable increase in calls to its helpline from businesses that inadvertently included on their websites images that are protected by copyright and subsequently received demands for payment from the...

A recent case illustrates how strong the evidence must be before the presumption that a person making a will has the mental capacity to do so will be overturned. It involved an elderly woman who died leaving an estate of a little under £150,000. Her...

When a house is bought or sold, the prospective purchaser makes what are called ‘pre-contract enquiries’ in order to establish the exact details of the property being bought. These are normally in the form of a standard set of questions with any...

It is common for service charges to be paid ‘on account’ of the annual cost, based on estimates, and a final account to be made up some time after the year end, based on the actual costs incurred. However, not all landlords are diligent about...

Most people probably do not realise that a highway authority’s responsibility for keeping the roads safe to use is very limited. In practical terms, so many things can happen to a road that it would be unreasonable for the authority to be responsible...

There are generally strict time limits that apply when presenting a claim for unfair dismissal to the Employment Tribunal (ET). Normally, a claim must be lodged before the end of a three-month period beginning with the effective date of termination (EDT)....

One of the rules that applies to the administration of estates is that whilst a person appointed as executor under a will can refuse to accept the appointment, once an executor ‘intermeddles’ in the estate, in principle he or she cannot then...

The penalties for engaging in anti-competitive behaviour are very substantial but, recognising that cartel (price-fixing) behaviour is difficult to detect, the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has a ‘leniency programme’, which operates to give...

The cardinal rule in proceedings involving children is that the welfare of the child comes first. In some cases, the interests of individual children in a family are sufficiently different for them to be considered separately. In a case involving a...

The Government is proposing to integrate the operation of the Income Tax and National Insurance Contributions systems, as announced in the 2011 Budget. Following an initial consultation with businesses and other interested parties, to gather evidence on the...

When an elderly woman passed away, her daughter, who was her personal representative, realised that some of her late mother’s land was occupied unlawfully by three people. She brought an action against them , seeking to recover possession of the land...

The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) has issued for consultation proposals for introducing fees for those wishing to lodge a claim with an Employment Tribunal (ET) or an appeal with the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT). Currently, the system is free to use and in...

In order for an asset to be removed from an estate for Inheritance Tax (IHT) purposes, the donor of the asset must retain no benefit from it after the legal title to it passes. Complex ‘reservation of benefit’ legislation exists to ensure that...

In July, the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) announced that it had applied to intervene in four cases due to be heard by the European Court of Human Rights, all of which were brought by Christian employees who claimed to be victims of religious...

When one business uses the trade marks of another, an action may be able to be brought for trade mark infringement and possibly also for ‘passing off’ – the term given to the situation in which a business attempts to profit by presenting...

The UK has been proceeding apace in its attempts to develop ‘green’ energy, and wind turbines are appearing all over the country – including in such seemingly unlikely spots as beside the M25. However, no matter what their benefits as...

A husband has lost his appeal against an order made in July 2010 for ancillary relief (the legal term for financial provision for an ex-spouse) that put family assets of £10 million, including £7 million held in two trusts, into the pool of...

Company liquidations have edged up in the first quarter of 2011, with 4,121 companies being subject to winding-up orders. Compulsory liquidations fell by more than 10 per cent compared with the same quarter in 2010, but creditors’ voluntary...

Every year the firm's Christmas party presents employees with the chance to relax and enjoy the holiday season. However, it is easy to forget that an employer owes its employees certain obligations, even outside work, when the employer has organised the...

If you are used to taking part of your company income by way of dividends (a common tax planning device, the main advantage of which is savings on National Insurance Contributions), but you require time to pay your taxes because of cash-flow problems,...

When a millionaire estate agent died intestate, the two women he had been involved with both tried to have his estate distributed according to their wishes. Chris John died leaving an estate worth £5 million. At the time of his death, he had been...

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has published provisional fatal injury statistics for the year April 2010 to March 2011 . These show that the number of workers killed in Britain was 171, compared with an all time low of 147 deaths in the previous...

When does a commercial property become vacant under a lease agreement? This was the question considered in a recent hearing in the Court of Appeal . The appeal was brought by haulage and storage firm NYK Logistics (UK) Ltd., a former tenant of Netherlands...

It is well known that in the UK, the loser in a court case pays the legal costs of the winner. It is often assumed that if, say, your legal costs are £5,000 and you win your case, you will get the £5,000 reimbursed. However, this is normally not...

An advertising and media company run by a Mr Casey sought to register the trade mark ‘Carbon Virgin’. The application was opposed by Richard Branson’s Virgin Enterprises Ltd. (VEL) on the grounds of the similarity of the proposed trade mark...

People who suffered losses as a result of the collapse of mutual insurer Equitable Life in 2000 will be pleased to know that the compensation payments they receive as a result of the passing of the Equitable Life (Payments) Act 2010 will be tax free. The...

A recent survey of businesses carried out by the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales has found that, in general, the availability of finance for business from banks and other providers of external finance has eased slightly but is still...

The recent case in which the court was asked to rule regarding a vacant flat that was part of a property sold at auction – the existence of which neither the vendor nor the purchaser was aware of until after the sale – has now been heard by the...

Following its Resolving Workplace Disputes consultation and the Red Tape Challenge review of employment law, the Government has announced its proposals for reform. The aim is to replace overly burdensome regulation whilst safeguarding workers’ rights,...

A widow who was excluded from inheriting her husband’s £500,000 estate, under the terms of a will he made four years before he died in 2009, has contested the will, alleging that the brain tumour from which her husband was suffering meant that he...

A father who sought to have a hearing regarding his contact with his children adjourned so that new evidence could be obtained found his argument rejected by the Court of Appeal recently. The family court had issued an interim order that the father, who had...

Operators of Amusement With Prizes (AWP) machines who receive VAT refunds as a result of a review carried out by HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) in the wake of a court reverse in 2009 are advised to ensure that they are able to repay the refund if necessary,...

A landowner’s duty of care with regard to land used by members of the public was the subject of a recent case in the High Court . The limits of legal responsibility in such circumstances are established generally by the law of tort (civil injury to...

Under the Agency Workers Regulations 2010 (AWR), which came into force on 1 October 2011, agency workers are entitled to have the same basic terms and conditions of employment as if they had been employed directly by the hirer once they have completed a...

New measures put forward by HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) to deal with the problem of ‘tax agents who act dishonestly in tax matters’ include proposals that HMRC should ‘name and shame’ advisers who are found to have acted dishonestly...

MoneySavingExpert.com (MSE) founder Martin Lewis has won summary judgment in the High Court – against a cold calling company – for infringement of his trade marks. This means that Mr Lewis does not have to run to the expense of a full trial on...

A developer who completely demolished a property when he only had permission to demolish part of it has landed himself with a fine and legal costs totalling more than £120,000. The developer has been given a year to pay the £80,000 fine and the...

Years ago, it was common for a deed creating a trust for children to specify the beneficiaries as being ‘the legitimate children’ of the person setting up the trust. Recently, the children of the 13th Duke of Manchester, by his bigamous marriage...

Two companies have been fined a total of £450,000 and ordered to pay costs after health and safety failures led to a maintenance worker falling to his death. Christopher Booker, 49, was working at Aberthaw Power Station when the accident happened in...

A woman who paid more than 90 per cent of the cost of a £3 million property purchased for her daughter, in whose name the title is held, has failed in her attempt to have the ownership of the property changed to reflect her contribution. It would seem...

The law relating to the fiduciary duties of directors is stricter than many company directors might think, as a recent case illustrates . The director of a company was given the loan of ‘a second-hand excavator and dumper’ for his personal use,...

The High Court has upheld a challenge by the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) to various terms found in some gym membership contracts – most notably lengthy minimum membership periods – ruling that such terms are unfair and therefore unenforceable....

News that HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) are to create a dedicated team of investigators to ‘target’ restaurants suspected of evading their tax liabilities is no real surprise: the sector offers them rich pickings in terms of under-declared...

The Supreme Court has handed down its decision in a case concerning the employment status of 20 valeters who provided car-cleaning services to motor retailers and auctioneers ( Autoclenz Ltd. v Belcher and others ). The valeters had written contracts with...

The Supreme Court recently handed down its judgment in the case of Gaines-Cooper v Revenue and Customs . In what will be a suprising decision to many, the Court has ruled in favour of HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC), who argued that businessman Robert...

On 1 October 2011, changes to the Housing Grants, Construction and Regeneration Act 1996 (normally called the Construction Act) came into force. The changes are contained in Part 8 of the Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Act 2009 ...

The combination of a deathbed marriage, a millionaire and a new will was always likely to end in a court battle, and so it proved recently when a family challenged their late father’s will, which left everything to his new wife, who had been his...

Following Lord Justice Jackson’s report on his review of civil litigation costs, a new law has been introduced to make it easier for small and medium-sized businesses to bring actions to protect their patent and design rights. The Patents County...

The Law Society is urging the nearly 70 per cent of the adult population who have not yet made a will to do so. There are many reasons why you should make a will. It is a mistake to think that it is only necessary if you have a substantial estate. Estate...

As reported previously, the Working Time Regulations 1998 (WTR) as they currently stand are not in accord with recent decisions of the European Court of Justice (ECJ) on the interpretation of the Working Time Directive with regard to the interaction of...

Noisy neighbours can be the bane of one’s existence, so it is no real surprise that a lesbian couple finally lost patience with their adjoining next-door neighbours after they had workmen carrying out extensive building work on their property for a...

A covenant can either represent a commitment to do something or a commitment not to do something. In either case, the party faced with a breach of the covenant has a range of options available to them for obtaining a legal remedy, one of which is to obtain a...

Just four months after relaunching Index-linked Savings Certificates, the Government-backed savings institution National Savings & Investments (NS&I) has withdrawn its Savings Certificates from sale. The move was necessary in order to ensure that it...

Readers are reminded that an application to reclaim VAT incurred in another EU country can be made to that country via HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) provided the claimant business is registered for VAT in the UK and is not VAT registered, or does not have to...

As part of the Government’s bid to tackle the growth of a ‘compensation culture’, the Ministry of Justice has announced that the payment of referral fees in personal injury cases is to be banned. At present, referral fees are commonly paid...

Employers are reminded that new National Minimum Wage (NMW) rates came into force on 1 October 2011. The revised rates are as follows: The adult hourly rate of the NMW has increased from £5.93 to £6.08; The development rate (which...

Among the requirements for a will to be valid are that it must not be witnessed by a beneficiary and it must be signed at the bottom by the testator (the person making it) or, if they are unable to sign it, under their direction. You would therefore be...

A recent divorce case has confirmed the general position that when wealth is inherited, it is not normally subject to the ‘equal shares’ rule that applies to assets built up during a marriage. The case involved a couple who married in the UK...

When a licensing application cannot be heard because insufficient information has been supplied relating to the primary use of the premises, the licensing authority must decide whether to grant the licence and deal with any issues through enforcement action...

If you move abroad to work, you pay your tax where you now live and that is the end of the matter. Or is it? Regrettably not. The UK tax system is a ‘world tax’ system, which seeks to tax the worldwide income of its residents. In order to avoid...

The Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) (Amendment) Regulations 2011 , which came into force on 26 May 2011, make certain changes to the laws that cover direct marketing by electronic means. Serious breaches of the rules surrounding the...

Earlier this year, the Government published a consultation document entitled ‘Resolving Workplace Disputes’. This sought views on various measures aimed at increasing employers’ confidence to take on more workers, encouraging the early...

Before you purchase a property, it is wise to make sure you are aware of the implications of any permitted uses of the land surrounding it. A recent case, in which the courts declined to prevent a landowner from carrying out activities which, although they...

The Government is calling on businesses to have their say in the latest phase of its Employment Law Review. From today until 19 October, the Government's ‘Red Tape Challenge’ is focusing on more than 160 different employment-related...

An employee wishing to bring a claim of unfair dismissal must do so before the end of the three-month period commencing with the effective date of termination (EDT) of their employment. Where a period of notice is given, the EDT is the date on which this...

HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) have won a major battle in the Supreme Court which may have severe implications for tax planning exercises. HMRC have persuaded the Court that a tax avoidance scheme, which was based on the wide definitions that apply to the...

According to a recent poll, more than one in eight wills is ‘self-written’ and one in 10 of those people who have made a will fails to tell anyone where it is. Since nearly 4 out of every 10 adults have not made a will in the first place, the...

Damage by animals is not common, despite the lurid headlines one sees in the popular press. However, if your animal does cause damage or injury to someone else, what is the extent of your liability? As well as a remedy in tort (the general law of damages),...

Directors of companies are entitled to any information they reasonably request about the company of which they are a director. It is therefore normal for a director to possess a great deal of confidential information about the company. Directors are also...

The Department for Culture, Media and Sport has issued a consultation aimed at simplifying the licensing laws for events attended by fewer than 5,000 people. Currently, events organisers have to apply and sometimes pay for licences for events which pose...

A recent case shows how unwilling the court will be to change an adoption order once it has been made. The case concerned a child who was removed from his mother’s care because she was unable to look after him due to drug dependency. This was...

If a claim is not defended, is a person indemnifying the defendant required to meet the claim in full? This question was at the core of a recent legal case involving a property development. The developer contracted with a subcontractor to carry out...

Limited liability partnerships (LLPs) are becoming increasingly common. For example, all of the ‘Big Four’ accounting firms have been LLPs for several years now. Recently, the acrimonious bust-up of an LLP led to one of the ex-members suing the...

Anyone who has substantial assets in the United States, is a US citizen, or expects to inherit assets situated in the USA or which are the property of US citizens, should take note of recent changes to the US Estate Tax. The legislation, in the form of the...

When it comes to contesting tax assessments, the playing field is far from level, as a recent VAT case shows. HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) made assessments on a trader based on discrepancies between recorded sales and cash in the tills on two visits. The...

A recent case has confirmed that a clause in a contract which absolves one party from paying the other in the event that the second party becomes insolvent is invalid as it infringes the ‘anti-deprivation’ principle. The principle exists to...

A recent case illustrates the importance for cohabiting couples of giving careful consideration to property ownership and inheritance issues. Ms Cattle had a relationship with her partner, Mr Evans, for many years and when he died she made a claim against...

Following several suspicious deaths at Stepping Hill Hospital in Stockport, Rebecca Leighton, a nurse working at the hospital, was accused of tampering with medical products, arrested and charged. She was consequently banned from working as a nurse by the...

According to a new report from the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) – Tax by Design – the current tax system is "inefficient, overly complex and frequently unfair" . It calls for some radical changes to taxation policy, warning...

With all the recent publicity surrounding the proposed changes to the ‘no win, no fee’ regime, another set of proposals, which may well be of greater importance to many people, has slipped under the radar of the popular press. A new...

When an insulation manufacturer created a road show to demonstrate its products in comparison with those of a competitor, there was always likely to be trouble. The comparison consisted of a series of fire tests, which were intended to demonstrate the...