Case Reports

The UK Supreme Court has ordered the UK government to deal with the country's air pollution problem and publish a report on it by the end of this year. Air pollution in the UK has contravened EU limits for years and has been linked to thousands of deaths.

The Home Secretary has successfully challenged a Scottish judge’s decision that her refusal of a Pakistani national’s application for leave to remain in the UK was unlawful. The Lord Ordinary held that a rejection letter by the Secretary of State failed to consider whether refusal of leave to re

A man found guilty of exchanging sexually explicit mobile phone messages with a 13-year-old girl and having in his possession thousands of indecent images of children on his computers has failed in an appeal against conviction but successfully challenged the sentence imposed. The Criminal Appeal Cou

Counsel from other jurisdictions must join the Scottish Bar if they wish to appear in Scotland’s supreme courts, judges have ruled, in refusing an application from an English barrister seeking rights of audience. The Inner House of the Court of Session held that the court’s “inherent power”

A client of a Scottish legal firm who failed to pay the purchase prices for three houses but claimed that solicitors “acted without his authority” in concluding the missives for the properties is suing the lawyers for nearly £200,000 after he settled an action brought against him by the develop

An asylum seeker who was deported to Nigeria with her five-year-old son will be returned to the UK after appeal judges ruled that the Home Secretary failed to consider the “best interests” of the child when ordering their removal. The Upper Tribunal (Immigration and Asylum Chamber) held that Sec

Highlands and Islands Airports has been granted a full hearing in its £14 million action for damages against Shetlands Islands Council over alleged “defects” in the local authority’s works to extend the runway at Sumburgh Airport. Judges in the Inner House of the Court of Session upheld a dec

A Pakistani national who married a British woman but was refused leave to remain in the United Kingdom after his visa expired has successfully challenged that decision on human rights grounds. Muhammad Irfan Khan brought a petition for judicial review,arguing that the refusal of leave to remain in t

A former director of a Scottish Championship football team who loaned more than £200,000 to the club has failed in a legal action to recover the money. The pursuer Gerard Nixon, who was a director of the defender Livingston Football Club (LFC) between 2009 and 2013, sought decree of payment of a to

Two Celtic supporters who claimed their human rights had been breached after they were convicted under legislation designed to tackle football-related sectarianism for singing a pro-IRA and INLA song during a match have lost their appeal. The Criminal Appeal Court was asked to consider whether the a

A man who drove a seriously intoxicated woman to A&E where he told a nurse that he had also been drinking and taking drugs and admitted to police officers that he had driven to the hospital has lost an appeal against his conviction for drink-driving. It was argued on behalf of the appellant that

A woman who was fined £1,000 after being found guilty of a “racially aggravated offence” has had her sentence quashed after appeal judges said they had “difficulty” in comprehending why she was prosecuted in the first place. The Criminal Appeal Court admonished the appellant after observing

A divorced father-of-two who was sequestrated after failing to meet his maintenance commitments towards his ex-wife and children has had a petition for suspension of a charge for payment and interdict refused. Crawford Hill argued that payments he made to his former wife Sally-Anne Hunter following

A community council has been granted a protected expenses order limiting its liability for the costs of a legal action challenging a decision of a local authority. A judge in the Court of Session ruled that it would “fair and just” to limit the community council’s liability to £1,000 as they

A single mother-of-five has successfully challenged a council’s decision that it had discharged its duty to house her homeless family by offering accommodation in another local authority area more than 50 miles away. The UK Supreme Court ruled that the council had acted unlawfully and quashed the