Case Reports

Tommy Sheridan has failed in an appeal to have his perjury conviction referred to the High Court of Justiciary to consider whether he suffered a “miscarriage of justice”. The Inner House of the Court of Session upheld a decision of the Lord Ordinary to dismiss th

A woman sued for defamation by her ex-husband over her claim on Facebook that he “tried to strangle me” has had her appeal unanimously allowed by the Supreme Court on the basis an ordinary reader of the post would have interpreted it as meaning the ex-husband had grasped the woman by the

A businessman who raised a series of “hopelessly irrelevant” and “incompetent” legal actions after being sequestrated for failing to pay his council tax has been declared a “vexatious litigant”. The Inner House of the Court of Session granted an order ag

A motorist found guilty of causing death by dangerous driving who claimed that he “blacked out” behind the wheel as a result of medications he was prescribed has had a damages action against his GP dismissed. Vincent Friel sued Dr Ian Brown for “negligence”, bu

The surviving partner of an elderly woman who died after suffering gastrointestinal bleeding has been awarded more than £187,000 in damages, having successfully sued a Scottish health board following a junior doctor’s failure to admit the patient to hospital. A judge in the Court of

A Scottish local authority which sued engineering contractors over a failed social housing development that had to be demolished for health and safety reasons has had its £12 million damages claim dismissed. Midlothian Council raised an action against Blyth & Blyth Consulting Eng

A man who physically abused his wife and failed to contribute to the household finances or assist with raising the couple’s four children has had a claim for financial provision upon divorce rejected by a sheriff. The court granted the pursuer’s application for divorce after finding that

A serial offender with over 100 previous convictions has successfully challenged a sheriff’s decision to impose a supervised release order (SRO) after he was sentenced to four years’ imprisonment for an attempted robbery and a separate statutory breach of the peace. The Appeal Court

A property management company has successfully challenged a sheriff’s decision that a burden requiring homeowners in a housing scheme to contribute to the costs of maintaining open ground in the estate owned by the maintenance company was void because it created a “monopoly”. The S

The owners of the former McEwens of Perth department store will not have to disclose the legal advice they were given before signing a personal guarantee granted to them by a bank in their action for reduction of the contract, a judge has ruled. John Bullough and his wife Georgina Bullough raised an

A serial offender who was sentenced to an order for lifelong restriction (OLR) following his fourth High Court appearance has had an appeal against a judge’s decision to impose the OLR rejected. John McKinlay, 29, who has convictions for rape and domestic abuse and assaulting fellow prison inm

A bank employee who stole more than £50,000 from customers’ accounts has had his sentence reduced following an appeal. Rameez Hamid, who was sentenced to the three years’ imprisonment after pleading guilty to embezzling some £51,000, argued that the custodial term was “

The estranged wife of former Rangers Football Club owner Sir David Murray has been granted a court order preventing a firm of solicitors acting for her husband in a divorce action. Kae Murray sought an interdict after a lawyer who acted for her when the couple signed a pre-nuptial agr

Three litigants who claimed that the introduction of a permission stage in judicial review procedure in Scotland was “incompatible” with human rights law because it meant that cases could be dismissed without an oral hearing have had their legal challenges dismissed. The three

A Northern Ireland woman has successfully appealed the decision of the Northern Ireland Court of Appeal to order a stay on her application for damages for the state’s failure to carry out a prompt investigation into the circumstances of her son’s death, in violation of Article 2 ECHR. Fi