BTMK

On 20 December 2011 the National Health Service (Right to Treatment) Bill proposed by Hugh Bayley MP was given its first reading in the House of Commons.

From April this year there will be dramatic reductions in civil court opening hours, not for hearings but for face-to-face counter services.

A public discussion will be launched later this year by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority to gauge public opinion on whether a new scientific procedure should be introduced.

A recent study in the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine reveals that patients admitted to hospital on Sundays are 16% more likely to die than patients admitted mid-week.

In the General Dental Council v Rimmer [2011] EWHC 3438 (Admin) the General Dental Council Professional Conduct Committee’s fi nding of misconduct was quashed because the Committee did not indicate a clear determination as to the expert evidence which they preferred.

In the UK case of AMP vs Persons Unknown, [2011] EWHC 3454 (TCC), an unnamed British woman (AMP) has obtained an injunction to prevent anyone from distributing explicit images of her on the internet, including by using bittorrent technology.

Former UK cabinet minister Chris Huhne and his ex-wife Vicky Pryce both appeared in court last week to face charges of attempting to pervert the course of justice.

Religious beliefs have again clashed with gay rights in the recent Court of Appeal case Bull & Bull v Hall & Preddy.

Following a challenge brought by a number of unions, the High Court ruled in December 2011 that the Government had acted lawfully in deciding to increase public sector pensions in line with the Consumer Prices Index (“CPI”) rather than the Retail Prices Index (“RPI”).

In the recent case of James v Gina Shoes Ltd and others UKEAT/0384/11 the EAT has given  consideration to the issue of whether negative remarks which were made by a managing director to an employee regarding his age gave rise to a ‘prima facie’ case of discrimination.

It has been almost a year since the Tests-Achats ruling was made by the European Court of Justice (“ECJ”).

The Tax Administration Bill (TAB) will soon be signed into law as the Tax Administration Act (TAA).

This article considers the case law relating to “bumping” and provides practical suggestions for employers.

A recent decision could form the basis of an appeal challenging the concept of 'establishment' for the purposes of the collective redundancy threshold.

A recent survey by Nuffield Health has found that more people are now inclined to go to work sick. 

The Court of Appeal has ruled on a case involving reasonable adjustments in examinations leading to qualification as a solicitor (the Legal Practice Course - LPC).

The Employment Appeal Tribunal has ruled that weeding out the most expensive applicants for an over-subscribed voluntary severance scheme was lawful despite its disproportionate impact on employees in the 50-54 age bracket.

In Sulamerica CIA Nacional de Seguros SA & Ors v Enesa Engenharia SA & Ors [2012] EWHC 42 (Comm), Mr Justice Cooke held that an anti-suit injunction restraining the defendant insureds from pursuing proceedings in Brazil in breach of an arbitration clause would be continued.

In the recent High Court case of Patel v Unite the court granted an order for an independent IT expert to inspect the respondent's computer systems after the respondent failed to comply fully with a Norwich Pharmacal order.

The Claimant lived within the defendant local authority area.

The Court of Appeal decided two separate appeals that concerned the circumstances in which an employer company would be liable for the tort committed by its employee.

Railcare Ltd were fined £133,000 at Glasgow Sheriff Court on 8 February 2012 for a breach of Section 2 of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974.

A nasty surprise (it is reported) has just popped through the letterbox at Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust.

In considering whether the claimant had brought her unfair dismissal claim in time, the EAT in Chelmsford College Corporation v Teal decided that a unilateral resignation had been withdrawn with the consent of the employer and the employment continued until a further unilateral resignation was ac

The existing legal right for staff to raise concerns about safety, malpractice or other wrong doing without suffering any detriment is to be highlighted in the NHS Constitution.

A number of recent cases have re-emphasised that the scheme in the Medical Act 1983 for interim suspension or interim conditions on practice may not be relied upon indefinitely, regardless of concerns about protection of the public, the practitioner, or the public interest, if fitness to practise

R (on the application of Marcus) v NMC concerned allegations relating to a single clinical incident against a registered nurse who was alleged to have failed to provide appropriate assistance to a doctor looking after a premature baby.

The NHS Commissioning Board released various documents, ahead of its second board meeting which was held on Thursday 2 February.

Employers can apply to court for a "springboard" injunction to prevent employees from taking advantage of breaches of confidentiality duties, typically in team move cases. 

John Barrie and Jenny Grant, Partners with Morton Fraser and both experts in Personal Injury, Litigation & Dispute Resolution, discuss the recent breast implant scare and who, if anyone, is liable.

As reported elsewhere in this update, the IMCA service created by the Mental Capacity Act 2005 to safeguard people who lack capacity to make certain decisions, commenced on 1 April 2007 and in December 2011 the fourth annual report was published.

Following a decision of the High Court of England and Wales in Armstrong DLW GmbH v Winnington Network Ltd [2012] EWHC 10 (Ch) the legal status of European Union Allowances (EUAs) traded under the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS), has now been clarified, with the Court holding that EUAs shoul

In M v GMC, Dr Martin appealed against the findings of a Fitness to Practise Panel of the GMC, which erased him for impaired fitness to practise by reason of misconduct.

In the case of Crilly v Ballymagroarty Hazelbank Community Partnership, an Industrial Tribunal in Northern Ireland found that an essential requirement in a job advertisement indirectly discriminated against women.

For an interim period of one year from April 2012 to 31 March 2013, the National Clinical Assessment Service will be hosted by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence.

On 10 January, the NHS Future Forum published its second set of reports to Health Secretary Andrew Lansley, which cover integration, education and training, information and the role of the NHS in public health.

The Information Commissioner has recently issued guidance setting out his view that the Freedom of Information Act 2000 "applies to official information held in private email accounts (and other media formats) when held on behalf of the public authority".

The Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006 (TUPE) saw an extension of the previous TUPE regulations (the 1981 Regulations) to include service provision changes within their ambit.

The European Court of Justice, in the case of Kucuk v Land Nordrhein-Westfalen, has considered the validity of a series of fixed-term employment contracts. 

It had been thought that the principles relating to the application of natural justice to adjudicators’ decisions were well settled and that adjudicators would apply them.

Since the publication of the Health and Social Care Bill, a key plank of which is the abolition of primary care trusts, those with an interest in the PCT estate have been ruminating over the question of the future of such estate.

In DB Schenker Rail (UK) Ltd v Doolan, the Scottish EAT held that an employment tribunal wrongly decided that the employer was not entitled to conclude, on the basis of expert evidence, that an employee was unfit to return to work.

The EAT has held in another incapability case that an employment tribunal was wrong to require that an employer should have taken length of service into account, and to require that it should have followed a particular procedure when obtaining further medical evidence.

In Dunn v Institute of Cemetery and Crematorium Management, the EAT has held that discrimination by reason of ‘marital status’ can include less favourable treatment because an employee is married to a particular person, rather than just because that employee is married.

On 3 February 2012, the English High Court (Kitchin LJ) handed down its judgment in the case of Football Association Premier League Ltd and Others v QC Leisure and Others [2012] EWHC 108 (Ch).

The Court of Session’s decision on the long-running “Moonzie” case was delivered yesterday, overturning the Land Court’s decision of June 2010.

In Enterprise Management Services Ltd v Connect-Up Ltd & Others, the EAT confirmed that there was no service provision change for the purposes of TUPE where the activities of an outgoing contractor (Enterprise) were not fundamentally the same as those of the incoming contractor (Connect), and

The maximum compensation that the Employment Tribunal can award for unfair dismissal (save in exceptional cases) and the basis upon which statutory redundancy payments are calculated will increase from 1 February 2012

A supermarket scuffle has led the English Court of Appeal to reject the argument that the plaintiff’s contributory negligence could serve as a defence to a claim for assault and battery: Pritchard v Co-operative Group (GWS) Ltd, [2011] EWCA Civ 329.

In Royal Bank of Scotland v Etridge, the House of Lords reviewed the law on undue influence in relation to individuals giving security for their spouse's debts.

JSC BTA Bank (controlled, since entering receivership, by the government of Kazakhstan) sought to recover $1.8 billion in assets allegedly misappropriated by Mukhtar Ablyazov during his tenure as chairman of the bank.

Employees who live in Britain and commute to work abroad may have unfair dismissal rights in Britain, particularly if the employment contract is governed by British employment law and the employee has been reassured that he will retain British employment law rights.

Lord Judge (real name), Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales, has issued guidance stating that representatives of the media and ‘legal commentators’ may send live, text-based messages from court without having to seek permission (subject to the possibility that their blogging or tweeting might

It’s difficult to determine whether we’ve reached the end of the PFI road in the UK or are simply about to embark on a new phase.

The increase to Employment Tribunal award limits was covered in our January E-Bulletin.

Commercial contracts often contain clauses offering one or other party the first right to refusal in relation to some obligation, for example the right to obtain a product or to supply a product.

The UK High Court in Porton Capital Technology Funds v 3M UK Holdings Ltd & 3M Company [2011] EWHC 2895 (Comm) recently considered the meaning of the phrase "which shall not be unreasonably withheld" in the context of a requirement to obtain a party's consent in a Share Purchase Agreement (SP

In these joint cases the majority of the Supreme Court held that breach of contract claims arising from an employer’s failure to follow an express contractual disciplinary process could not proceed if damages are claimed for the manner of the dismissal.

Joint service provider Enterprise Management Services took steps to improve productivity, efficient and costs when it became clear that its client was going to invite tenders for a single service provider. 

Undue influence is a concept associated with abuses of trust and/or exploitation of the vulnerable.

Miss Hogg brought a claim for unfair dismissal arising out of her redundancy on the basis that some employees had been excluded and not all those who sought voluntary redundancy was made redundant.

Mr Sharp was employed by Dundee City Council for 35 years prior to his dismissal in September 2009 on grounds of capability. 

In Tiffin v Lester Aldridge LLP, the Court of Appeal has upheld the EAT and tribunal in deciding that a fixed-share partner was not an employee. 

This appeal follows the first instance decision in 2010, where Asda was found not to have infringed Specsavers' logo trade mark (shown below) but only its word mark through the use of the strapline "Be a real spec saver at Asda" in Asda's promotion of its in-store optician service.

In the first of 2 cases on a similar theme, we report this week on a decision of the High Court to grant a springboard injunction preventing three employees from joining a potential competitor on the basis of evidence that they had breached their duties of confidentiality and fidelity during thei

In Key2Law (Surrey) LLP v De'Antiquis, the Court of Appeal has approved the earlier EAT decision that administration proceedings are not capable of coming within the insolvency exception to the normal TUPE rule that on a business transfer the transferee takes over the employment obligations.

We issued a briefing last month identifying a potential loophole in the statutory limit of 25 pupils for Primary 1 classes, which had the potential to make it very difficult for local authorities to comply with that limit in their most in-demand schools.

Friday the thirteenth, they say, is unlucky for some.

In the current climate of austerity, healthcare providers may be seeking ways to contain costs of treatment.