Monday Law Report: Case summaries - 23 July 2001

THE FOLLOWING notes of judgments were prepared by the reporters of the All England Law Reports.

SENTENCING

R v P; CA, Crim Div (Judge LJ, Hooper, Hallett JJ) 7 June 2001.

When determining the length of a detention and training order a judge should, pursuant to s 101(8) of the Powers of Criminal Courts (Sentencing) Act 2000, take into account any period of time which the the defendant had already spent in custody.

Kevin Talbot (Registrar of Criminal Appeals) for the defendant.

COMPANY

Re NT Gallagher & Son Ltd; Ch D (Judge Howarth sitting as a judge of the High Court) 13 June 2001.

Where a company had entered into a creditors' voluntary arrangement and assets of the company were held by a supervisor of the CVA, the assets were held on trust for the benefit of the CVA creditors, and the trust did not come to an end even on the commencement of the liquidation.

Antony Zacaroli (DLA) for the liquidators; Martin Pascoe (N J Goodman & Co) for the supervisors.

EDUCATION

R (on the application of Transport and General Workers Union and anor) v Walsall Metropolitan Borough Council; Admin Ct (Harrison J) 12 June 2001.

A decision to award school catering services to an outside contractor was a decision relating to schools, and was therefore a matter within the scope of reg 10 of the Education (Parent Governor) Regulations 1999. Accordingly, parent governor representatives from local schools who were non-elected members of the Education and Community Services Committee of the respondent local authority should not have been excluded from voting on the question.

Nigel Giffen (Pattinson Brewer) for the claimants; Clive Lewis (Stuart Portman) for the authority.

JURY

McPhilemy v Times Newspapers Ltd; CA (Simon Brown, Chadwick, Longmore LJJ) 12 June 2001.

Where a party to a libel action who would benefit from the only rational verdict open to the jury on a particular matter had nevertheless invited the judge to leave that matter to the jury, despite the fact that the other party had submitted that the jury should be directed to treat it as resolved in the first party's favour, he could not then contend that the jury's verdict was demonstrably perverse.

James Price QC, Matthew Nicklin (Bindman & Partners)for the claimant; Andrew Caldecott QC, Caroline Addy (Henry Hepworths) for the defendants.

CRIME

R v Rodenhurst; CA, Crim Div (Laws LJ, Judge Goddard, Sir Oliver Popplewell) 12 June 2001.

Where a defendant's alibi witnesses had been charged with doing an act tending or intended to pervert the course of justice, but had been discharged from that offence prior to the defendant's trial, the defendant was not denied a fair trial.

William Andreae-Jones QC, Michael Grey (Registrar of Criminal Appeals) for the defendant; Adrian Redgrave QC (CPS) for the Crown.

NEGLIGENCE

Kane v New Forest District Council; CA (Simon Brown, May, Dyson LJJ) 13 June 2001.

Where a local planning authority had granted planning permission for a footpath which was, because of the lack of sight lines, totally unsuitable, and had failed to forbid the opening of the footpath to the public until the sight lines had been cleared, the authority could be liable in negligence.

Anthony Coleman (Moore & Blatch, Southampton) for the claimant; John M Snell (Beachcroft Wansbroughs, Winchester) for the defendants.

HUMAN RIGHTS

R (on the application of Jarrett) v Legal Services Commission and others; Admin Ct (Burton J) 22 May 2001.

Guidance by the Lord Chancellor as to when, in a matter in which the granting of civil legal aid was normally precluded by Sch 2 to the Access to Justice Act 1999, it would be appropriate to award such assistance, failed to include matters specified by the European Court of Human Rights in X v UK (1984) 6 EHRR 136, namely whether the withholding of legal aid would make presentation of the claim impossible or would lead to an obvious unfairness in the proceedings.

Nicholas Blake QC, Julian Knowles (Irwin Mitchell, Sheffield) for the applicant; Jonathan Crow, Mark Hoskins (Legal Services Commission) for the commission; Malcolm Davis-White (Treasury Solicitor) for the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry.

Copyright 2001 Independent Newspapers UK Limited
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