Mitchell Skilling

The UK Supreme Court has unanimously dismissed an appeal by HM Revenue and Customs against a decision that items constructed for the collection and transmission of water through a hydroelectric power station in Fort Augustus were not tunnels or aqueducts for the purposes of the Capital Allowance Act

A building company that was hired to build an extension for a house has been successful in an Outer House action in which it sought over £370,000 from a client following adjudication in its favour. AGB Scotland Ltd sought £367,808.84 plus VAT from defender Darren McDermott, along with ad

A man who embezzled £170,000 from a deceased woman who had hired him as a financial advisor and later appointed him executor of her estate has lost a High Court appeal against his conviction.  Gordon Couch, who was sentenced to three years’ imprisonment for embezzling funds from the

A couple who moved into a property in order to redecorate it for its owners and subsequently refused to move out have lost an appeal against a sheriff’s decision that they occupied the property under a licence agreement rather than a private residential tenancy. Original defenders Jamie and Lo

The High Court of Justiciary has refused an application by a man convicted seeking to extend the time period in which he could make an appeal against a series of rape and assault convictions from February 2021. Robert Garden was convicted in 2021 of various charges of rape and assault against multip

A commercial judge has dismissed a £400 million action by an offshore energy company that alleged it had suffered loss by means of an unlawful means conspiracy perpetrated by another company and its partners in a bidding process for offshore wind farm sites. Moray Offshore Renewable Power Ltd,

A commercial judge has ordered a law firm to pay around £12.5 million, inclusive of interest, to a former client after a finding of professional negligence in relation to a failed litigation in which it failed to timeously lodge caution on behalf of the client. Centenary 6 Ltd had sought the s

The UK Supreme Court has ruled that the Jehovah’s Witnesses organisation was not vicariously liable for a rape committed by a former elder on a 29-year-old married woman after an appeal by a Wales-based congregation of the organisation. The Trustees of the Barry Congregation of Jehovah’s

The Inner House of the Court of Session has reduced by one third an award of expenses due to be paid by an airline to a successful co-defender in an action raised by an injured passenger following a challenge to the determined expenses. It was not disputed that pursuer Colin Mather was entitled to h

A letting company which ostensibly rented residential flats in Edinburgh on a holiday letting basis has been refused permission to appeal to the Upper Tribunal against a decision that it was in breach of the repairing standard for residential properties. In an action raised by the City of Edinburgh

Two Crown appeals against a sheriff’s decision to sustain defence pleas of oppression by two prisoners charged with possessing an unauthorised SIM card within prison have been allowed by the Sheriff Appeal Court. Respondents Brandon Douglas and John Pow both argued that it was oppressive of th

A prisoner who was imprisoned in 1996 for murdering a young man with a knife in Renfrew has successfully petitioned for a judicial review of a decision of the Parole Board for Scotland’s not to release him on licence. DD, the petitioner, was aged 16 when he was convicted in June 1996 and was s

The family of a man who died of mesothelioma that alleged his condition was caused by asbestos exposure have lost an Inner House appeal against a decision that his former employer was not responsible for his condition. Nicola Watt and other pursuers averred that Lend Lease Construction Ltd, which pr

An Arbroath man who fell down an unlit communal staircase in his building at night has lost an appeal against a sheriff’s decision that the local authority responsible for the maintenance of the stairwell was not liable for the accident. Craig Hill argued in his case before the Sheriff Appeal

A Dundee sheriff has ruled that a sum of just over £27,000 paid by two property buyers to a fraudulent bank account in the belief that they were paying a legitimate house deposit did not constitute money transferred under an agreement to which the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 applie