Mitchell Skilling

An English copyright judge has ruled that the 2019 John Lewis Christmas advert featuring a dragon unable to control its fire did not infringe the copyright of a children’s book author who had self-published a book with a similar premise. Fay Evans, who authored a work titled Fred the Fire-Snee

A tenant of a property in Cambuslang has been refused permission to appeal against his eviction and a payment order by the Upper Tribunal for Scotland after it found that no arguable ground of appeal had been made out. An order for eviction was made against David Hutcheson by the First-tier Tribunal

A reclaiming motion by a Scottish mother challenging the return of her two children to their father in the USA on the basis of a grave risk defence has been allowed by the Inner House of the Court of Session. Reclaimer SD was the original respondent in an action raised under the Hague Convention on

A former employee of the Scottish government has had her claim of harassment and victimisation on account of her race based on deliberate underpayment and unfair treatment dismissed by the Employment Tribunal. Claimant J Adegun, who was ethnically black, sought to establish that the Scottish Ministe

The Sheriff Appeal Court has refused most of an appeal by an estate management company challenging a sheriff’s decision that the majority of its claim against a former client for unpaid fees had been insufficiently specified to allow a proof, but allowed the appeal in relation to probation for

An Aberdeenshire landlord who was ordered to pay £2,400 to her South African tenant after being found in breach of tenancy deposit regulations has been refused permission to challenge the decision. Appellant Pei Tan argued that the First-tier Tribunal for Scotland had erred in finding that a p

A woman who fell onto her back while walking her employer’s dog after her shift had concluded has been unsuccessful in an action for over £345,000 before a personal injury sheriff. Donna Slater, aged 58, argued that her employer at Trossachs Holiday Park, Tracy Ann McNelis, owed her a du

An Algerian political activist who sought asylum in the UK on the basis of risk of persecution has been successful in a petition for judicial review seeking to challenge a decision of the Upper Tribunal not to allow him an appeal from the First-tier Tribunal. Petitioner AK, who had taken part in a n

The Sheriff Appeal Court has refused a challenge by the father of a five-year-old child to return with her mother to Poland following the end of the relationship. The appellant argued that the sheriff’s decision was plainly wrong, relying on 12 aspects of the judgment to establish that he had

The Inner House of the Court of Session has upheld an interlocutor directing the liquidator of a farming business to sell a plot of land to an agricultural tenant after a reclaiming motion was raised by the landlords. Appellants Joseph and Donalda Sweeney, who had been involved in a long-running dis

A judge in the High Court of England and Wales has found that the director of a software company had infringed the copyright of his former employer after he founded his own company to carry on a similar business. It was alleged by PQ Systems Europe Ltd (PQE) and Productivity-Quality Systems Inc, an

A former employee of a Glasgow social club who was dismissed following a furlough period has lost a claim in the Employment Tribunal for unfair dismissal and unpaid wages for the period between the end of her furlough and her dismissal. Claimant Melissa Carrington was employed at the Corinthian Club

The Sheriff Appeal Court has refused an appeal by the tenant of student accommodation in Edinburgh who sought to overturn a decree of absolvitor on the ground that the case was conducted unfairly. Appellant Mark Doran raised a Simple Procedure action against his landlord, SC Causewayside Ltd, seekin

A company director convicted of neglect resulting in the death of an employee who was hit by a bus following a fall from height has lost an appeal by stated case against his conviction in the Sheriff Appeal Court. Kevin Bowie was convicted after an eight-day trial of an offence under the Health and

A commercial judge has ruled that a case by two connected companies against former employees they alleged were in breach of a non-compete clause was not bound to fail, but dismissed part of the action directed against a junior employee of the first company. Defenders Kyle Thomson, Laura Lochhead and