Case Reports

A motorist who was found guilty of driving while using a mobile phone after he was seen by two police officers has had an appeal against his conviction rejected. The appellant claimed that the evidence of two police witnesses was “insufficient” to prove that an offence had been committed, but th

A scaffolder who was sentenced to 12 months’ imprisonment after pleading guilty to having a kitchen knife in his car which was found following a police search has successfully appealed against his sentence. A sheriff had rejected the accused’s plea in mitigation that the knife was used as “wor

A supplier of luxury goods can prohibit its authorised distributors from selling those goods on a third-party internet platform such as Amazon and this does not, in principle, go beyond what is necessary to preserve the luxury image of the goods. Coty Germany sells luxury cosmetic goods in Germany.

A FTSE 100 company which is seeking to enforce a contractual restriction preventing a former employee setting up a rival partnership business has had a motion for interim interdict refused. A judge in the Court of Session said she was not persuaded to exercise her discretion by granting the interim

A tenant who challenged a sheriff’s decision that he was liable to pay his former landlord two months’ unpaid rent has had his appeal dismissed. The Sheriff Appeal Court upheld the sheriff’s ruling that the landlord’s breach of certain statutory obligations did not render the lease agreement

A man who was sentenced to the minimum term of five years’ imprisonment after pleading guilty to possession of a stun gun has failed in an appeal against what he argued was an “arbitrary and disproportionate” sentence. The Appeal Court of the High Court of Justiciary upheld the decision of the

The Sheriff Appeal Court has overturned a sheriff’s decision to refuse sanction for counsel in a summary cause action arising from a road traffic accident. The court held that the sheriff erred by failing to give sufficient weight to the “importance” of the case to the pursuer.

A father whose legal action for contact with his child was dismissed after he failed to lodge a joint minute in advance of a case management hearing has successfully challenged the sheriff’s decision. The Sheriff Appeal Court allowed the appeal after ruling that the sheriff failed to have the welf

Two professional footballers who were found to have raped a woman after a judge ruled she was “incapable of consenting” due to the effects of alcohol have had an appeal against the decision dismissed. David Goodwillie and David Robertson were ordered to pay damages of £100,000 to Denise Clair a

A legal firm which sought to challenge a decision by the Scottish Legal Complaints Commission (SLCC) to admit a number of complaints to further investigation has been refused leave to appeal to the Court of Session. A judge refused the firm’s application after ruling that there was “no arguable

A Scots lawyer who was jailed for embezzling more than £260,000 from his aunt has been struck off the roll of solicitors after being found guilty of “professional misconduct”. William Walls was struck off following a separate complaint to the Scottish Solicitors' Discipline Tribunal (SSDT), whi

A party litigant who sought leave to appeal against a Sheriff Appeal Court decision refusing to allow his appeal to be received late has had his application dismissed by the Court of Session. The applicant had missed the deadline to lodge his ground of appeal in time by six days due to illness and a

A man who pled guilty to assault at a trial diet having previously offered to plead has successfully appealed against the sentence imposed after challenging the level of discount afforded by the sentencing sheriff. The Appeal Court of the High Court of Justiciary ruled that the sheriff “misdirecte

A challenge to the competency of a reclaiming motion which was designed to review not the interlocutor appealed against but an earlier interlocutor has been dismissed. The Inner House of the Court of Session repelled the objection after ruling that there was a “direct relationship” between the t

A teenager found guilty of raping a younger boy and sexually assaulting a girl has had an appeal against his conviction refused after judges rejected his argument that the doctrine of “mutual corroboration” could not apply in his case. The Appeal Court of the High Court of Justiciary held that t