Read our latest articles, news briefs and legal updates across all our different services.
A landlord has won a dispute over service charges in a commercial building because the onus was on the tenant to prove they were unfair, and it had failed to do so. The case involved Criterion Buildings Ltd and Mckinsey & Co. Criterion was the landlord of a building comprised of offices, a sportswear store,
The discount supermarket chain Lidl has been ordered to stop selling its Hampstead gin brand due to a trademark dispute. The issue arose after the chain started selling the gin in a dark brown/black and opaque, apothecary style bottle bearing a diamond shaped label like that used by the famous brand Hendrick’s, which was launched
The High Court has ruled that two directors breached their legal duties when they used company property to fund their pensions. The case involved a company that had been incorporated in 1998 to take over a volunteer-run project that renovated and resold donated furniture. In 2001 the company bought a property as its premises. Some
A firm of interior designers have won a contract dispute over unpaid invoices for their work refurbishing a hotel requiring a “luxurious 5-star feel”. The case involved Phoenix Interior Design Ltd v Henley Homes plc. Henley engaged Phoenix to provide interior design services, furniture and fittings for a new apartment hotel in Scotland. The brief
The Court of Appeal has ruled that an ‘irrational’ clause in a lease that led to exponential growth in rent increases was an error and should be corrected. The case involved Monsolar IQ Ltd and Woden Park Ltd. Monsolar agreed a 25.5-year lease to create a solar farm on land owned by Woden. The lease
A woman who stumbled across a workplace WhatsApp group featuring racially abusive remarks about her has been awarded nearly £25,000 for unlawful harassment on the grounds of sex, race and religious belief. The case involved Mrs Muna Abdi who worked as an operations clerk for Deltec in Hounslow. She was originally from Somalia and moved
HMCTS have confirmed that legal representatives will need to process divorce applications online using the digital service (rather than paper forms) from 13th September 2021. The exceptions to this, which should continue to be processed via the paper route, are:- • Civil Partnership• Judicial Separation• Nullity Machins Solicitors are already set up to use the
The Court of Appeal has set aside a court order that a girl should be returned to her mother rather than stay with foster parents. The girl was 18 months old and was referred to in court as X. Her mother had agreed to X being accommodated with foster parents when she was three days
The Court of Appeal has ruled that a judge was wrong to order that two children should be returned to their father, who the mother claimed had been abusive. The mother was English, and the father was American. They married in 2015 and lived in England with the mother’s daughter from a previous relationship. In
Last week Channel 4 Dispatches’ aired “Torn Apart: Family Courts Uncovered”. The programme reported on a voluntary survey as well as conversations with a number of families who have used the family court system and professionals working within it. Among the topics discussed were: Parental Alienation: This is a situation in which one parent uses