Case Reports

A retired academic who contracted a rare form of cancer which he claimed was the result of exposure to asbestos during the course of his employment at a university has had an action for £180,000 damages dismissed. A judge in the Court of Session assoilzied the defenders after ruling that the pursue

A woman who was found guilty of dangerous driving after falling asleep at the wheel and crashing into an oncoming vehicle has lost an appeal against conviction. Judges in the Criminal Appeal Court ruled that in the absence of special circumstances the act of falling asleep is a “voluntary act” a

The owner of a farmhouse destroyed by a fire who claimed that the fire service failed to properly extinguish the blaze has had an action for damages dismissed. The pursuers argued that the fire brigade was liable in damages because the fire re-ignited after it had apparently been extinguished, but j

A prisoner serving a determinate sentence who claims that the Scottish Prison Service have failed to provide him with the opportunity to show that he no longer poses a risk to the public has had an application for permission to seek judicial review dismissed. A judge in the Court of Session refused

A Scots lawyer who was awarded £150,000 after suing a former client, but later saw the decision overturned after a judge ruled that the initial writ was not validly served because the solicitor had been suspended from practising, has failed in an appeal. Judges in the Inner House of the Court of Se

The family of a boy who died in a tragic accident while attending the Royal Highland Show have had a motion for summary against the operators of the event refused. A judge in the Court of Session ruled that the pursuers failed to meet the “high test” required of them for their motion to succeed.

A motion to remit a £25,000 damages action to the new national personal injury court has been refused by a judge in the Court of Session. Lord Boyd of Duncansby held that the fact that a claim was “small and straightforward” was not in itself enough to justify remit to the sheriff court.

The Sheriff Criminal Appeal Court has issued its first judgment, refusing an appeal against sentence by a man who was convicted of assault and a statutory breach of the peace charge. The appellant argued that the sentence of six months imposed on each of the two charges was “excessive” and that

A mother of an unborn baby and a gay friend who hatched a “callous and selfish scheme” whereby she lied to the father of the child by telling him that she had terminated the pregnancy when in fact she gave birth to the baby so that her friend could obtain parental rights and responsibili

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