Case Reports

A Scots lawyer who was found to have acted in a “reckless and cavalier manner” by accepting an offer to settle a “slopping out” claim on behalf of a prisoner client for whom he was no longer instructed to act has failed in a challenge to a tribunal’s finding that he was guilty of “profes

A firm of solicitors which challenged a claim by the trustees of a fund set up to provide pensions for employees of legal practices and their dependants has failed in an appeal against a judge’s decision to grant decree against the firm to pay its share of a deficit on the fund. Pattison & Sim

A child counsellor with convictions for offences of dishonesty whose application to be the kinship carer for her teenage niece and nephew was refused following a disclosure check has successfully appealed against a decision to include her name on the children’s list. A sheriff allowed the appeal a

A worker at a scaffolding firm who was injured when a manager threw a claw hammer which accidentally struck him on the head has had a claim for damages dismissed after a court ruled that his employers were not “vicariously liable”. A sheriff principal upheld a sheriff’s decision that the emplo

A Scottish Police Authority (SPA) employee who made and possessed indecent images of children and extreme pornography depicting humans and animals has been sentenced to five years in prison by a judge at the High Court in Glasgow. Lord Boyd of Duncansby sentenced Barry Rankine, an information comput

An airline passenger whose flight from Scotland to Spain was delayed by more than six hours has been awarded €400 in compensation after the carrier’s claim that the delay was caused by “extraordinary circumstances” was rejected. A sheriff ruled that the pursuer was entitled to compensation b

A company which pleaded guilty to health and safety breaches after a railway bridge worker died from inhaling gas fumes has been handed a £200,000 fine. David Rodger, 44, died working on the Tay Rail Bridge on the day his employer – then named Thyssenkripp Palmers Ltd – was awarded a health and

A woman who was left permanently disabled after sustaining a “profound and irreversible” brain injury during her birth has had a late application to amend her claim against a health board refused. A judge in the Court of Session ruled that the minute of amendment, which proposed a new “risk di

A golf club which sued the suppliers of an electric trolley after a “Motocaddy” caught fire and caused extensive damage to a clubhouse have had an action for more than £500,000 damages refused. A judge in the Court of Session dismissed the club’s claim that the producers and importers of the

An Indian student who married a British woman has successfully challenged a decision to refuse his application for leave to remain in the UK as a spouse and to certify his human rights claim as “clearly unfounded”. A judge in the Court of Session ruled that the Secretary of State for the Home De

A man found guilty of rape who claimed that the trial judge “misdirected” the jury when he said the complainer’s diary entry could provide evidence of her distress and thus corroboration of lack of her consent has had an appeal against conviction refused. The Criminal Appeal Court ruled that a

A decision that a sheriff’s finding of contempt of court and subsequent sentence for breach of interdict were reviewable only by petition to the “nobile officium” has been overruled. A five-judge bench in the Inner House of the Court of Session held that a previous case in which it had been he

A petition challenging the election of Alistair Carmichael (pictured right) as Liberal Democrat MP for Orkney and Shetland has been refused after judges ruled it had not been proved beyond reasonable doubt that he had committed an “illegal practice”. The Election Court dismissed the prayer of th

An application by a man found guilty of a series of sexual offences against four children for an extension of time in which to lodge a note of appeal has been refused. The Criminal Appeal Court ruled that the applicant failed to show that his ground of appeal “would probably succeed” or that the

A judge’s decision not to make a finding of contempt of court against a company which allegedly failed to comply with court orders allowing the recovery of certain documents has been successfully challenged on appeal. Judges in the Inner House of the Court of Session held that the Lord Ordinary �