Mitchell Skilling

A lord ordinary has ruled that a woman who claimed that a farmer who died intestate had promised her the majority of his estate before his death had not established a legally binding engagement sufficient to enforce a promise to that effect against his executrix dative. Pursuer Louise Davies raised

A commercial judge has dismissed parts of a claim brought by a contractor against the Port of Aberdeen in relation to a settlement dispute between them but appointed a proof in respect of the overall claim. Dragados UK Ltd sought payment of just over £1.247 million in terms of a Settlement Agr

The owners of a Category A listed country house in Ayrshire have lost a judicial review challenge against a purported decision of a local authority that a 2004 grant of planning permission imposing conditions on the development of the estate remained extant after a lord ordinary ruled the letter all

A self-employed plasterer who fractured his skull and sustained a brain injury falling from height has lost an appeal in the High Court of England and Wales against a one third deduction from his award of damages for contributory negligence. Charles Lee suffered the injury while working at the prope

A personal injury sheriff has awarded just over £6,000 to a groundworker who was injured in a collision between a car and a van in which he was a passenger after finding that the driver acted negligently in his response to an ambulance attempting to join the dual carriageway. Pursuer Stephen L

A commercial judge has refused to find prior to a proof that there had been unfairly prejudicial conduct against a minority shareholder in a property development company which claimed that it had been excluded from company business without good cause following a restructuring of the company’s

A commercial judge has dismissed an action by a former company director seeking over £500,000 from the accounting firm instructed to value his shares for compulsory sale after finding that the firm did not act negligently in carrying out the valuation. Mark Coulter raised the action against An

A man who robbed an Aberdeen shop at knifepoint and stole cigarettes worth around £350 has had his sentence of imprisonment extended after the Crown challenged the sentence as unduly lenient. John Gallagher was given an in cumulo sentence of three years and four months’ imprisonment for

A landlord who was refused an eviction order against a tenant in rent arrears after a housing tribunal found that there would be significant detrimental impact on the tenant has won an appeal to the Upper Tribunal for Scotland against the decision and granted the order sought. Appellant Scott Mackel

A Glasgow sheriff has ruled that a £70,000 payment by a deceased father to his youngest son in 2009 was not a loan and did not impose a repayment obligation on the son, now also deceased, after an action was raised by his elder brother seeking repayment. Pursuers Jonathan Russell, the eldest s

An appeal against conviction by a university student convicted of sexually assaulting another student on his course at a night in with friends and then in a taxi has been refused by the High Court of Justiciary after it found there was no basis for the jury to consider the issue of reasonable belief

A supermarket lorry driver has been awarded over £56,000 in damages in a personal injury action against his employer after a sheriff found that his claim had not been exhausted by a previous agreement between the pursuer and the first defender. Thomas Ward raised the action against his employe

A sheriff of the Upper Tribunal for Scotland has remitted three applications by the owners of holiday chalets on a lochside estate concerning alleged breaches of property factor duties to the First-tier Tribunal for Scotland after finding that the chalets could be considered residential properties f

A sheriff has granted summary decree for payment of a loan granted by a company director to a homebuyer after finding that nothing in the agreement prevented the company, which was used as a vehicle for the loan, from demanding payment without the consent of the director. New House Purchasers Ltd so

A Falkirk sheriff has dismissed an action originally raised by a woman under section 28(2) of the Family Law (Scotland) Act 2006 seeking payment from her former cohabiting partner after finding that her alternative case based on unjustified enrichment had not been made out. Pursuer Leanne McGunnigal