Case Reports

The environmental organisation Greenpeace has had its petition for judicial review of the decision to allow the development of a North Sea oil field refused. The Secretary of State for Business Energy and Industrial Strategy, the first respondent to the petition, granted consent to BP

A trio of young offenders have successfully appealed the punishment parts of life sentences imposed on them after their joint murder of a man in Edinburgh, reducing them by two to four years each.  Keiran McMillan (or Elliott), Aron McMillan, and Levi Hunter (or Brown) were

A taxi driver who had his licence suspended by a local authority on the ground of no longer being a fit and proper person to hold such a licence has had his appeal against the decision refused.  Scott McMillan argued that West Lothian Council had made several errors in their cons

The Sheriff Appeal Court (Civil Division) has ruled that a man who applied for financial provision following the end of a long cohabitation period has had his appeal against the sheriff’s decision not to make an award in his favour refused.  George Duthie, the pursuer and appell

A company that sought monies from a former director who sought to bring derivative proceedings against it under section 266 of the Companies Act 2006 has successfully appealed the decision of the sheriff to grant leave for such proceedings.  Kenneth Sinclair, the pursuer and responden

The murderer of Aberdeen-born woman Neomi Smith, who was also convicted of minor assaults and behaving in an abusive or threatening manner towards her, has had his appeal against his sentence refused. Keith Rizzo, who was the deceased’s partner at the time, argued that the sentence imposed on

A subcontractor involved in the Aberdeen Harbour Expansion Project has succeeded in establishing that the main contractor of the project breached the terms of their contract by omitting work within the scope of the subcontract and transferring it to other companies.  The pursuer, Van Oord UK Lt

The High Court of Justiciary has granted an order allowing the son of the man convicted of the Lockerbie bombing, Abdelbaset Al Megrahi, to appeal against his late father’s conviction, following a referral of the case by the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission (SCCRC). Mr Megrahi’s

A former employee of a company that ceased trading in 2017 has failed in his appeal to obtain £750,000 due to him after being injured at work from the company’s former insurer.  Owen Hannaway originally presented a summary application under the Administration of Justice (Scotland) A

The former husband of a woman who sought divorce on the grounds of unreasonable behaviour has succeeded in appealing the manner in which the matrimonial property was divided.  Allan Neill, the defender and appellant, who was not opposed to the granting of the divorce, argued that the sheriff ha

A woman who sought to undergo in vitro fertilisation (IVF) treatment using her late husband’s sperm has succeeded in obtaining an order allowing its use for that purpose despite his not signing the relevant forms.  The petitioner, SB, wished to pursue IVF as it was the most likely method

A local authority that claimed it was entitled to a percentage of a termination fee paid by a sub-lessee to the head tenant of a shopping centre it leased out has succeeded in establishing its entitlement to the monies.  The pursuer, 3639 Ltd, was the head tenant under the lease, and origi

A man who was found in possession of indecent images of children and convicted of offences under the Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982 has had his appeal against conviction refused. Fevos Georgiou was given a community payback order which incorporated a 2 year supervision order and

The proprietor of a flat in Edinburgh who sought to establish that their neighbour had a statutory obligation to pay for half the cost of repairs to the external render of the common wall of their building has had their application rejected by the Sheriff Court.  Karen Lacey argued that th

A self-styled “pick-up artist” who was convicted of five minor sexual assault charges has succeeded in quashing all five convictions on appeal.  Adnan Ahmed, who was originally tried on an indictment labelling 18 charges, argued that the trial sheriff, Lindsay Wood, had inappropriat