We reported in our April 2024 edition (p7) on the Law Society’s update of the Property Information Form to take account of the ‘Material Information’ guidance that Trading Standards issued to estate agents in November 2023. The legal press and social media continues to be awash with comments on the updated form and the risks …
Continue reading “TA6 – continued controversy”
The judge’s ruling was ‘fundamentally flawed’ in relation to what it included and what was not included. In the course of public law proceedings under Part IV CA 1989, the LA was required to arrange direct in-person contact three times a week between the child (T) and M, despite both the LA and the children’s …
Continue reading “Care orders – contact”
The war on drugs-related crime continues with six new synthetic opioids being classified as Class A – adding to the 15 synthetic opioids already made subject to the strictest level of controls earlier this year. The six new drugs include acyl piperazine opioids and derivatives, including 2-methyl-AP-237; and (importantly) any new nitazenes detected in the …
Continue reading “Drugs – classification”
F failed in his appeal against a CAO banning him from any face-to-face contact with his three-year-old son (J) for an indefinite period. Jackson LJ found this to be a case with ‘no easy answer’. The parents loathed each other (M had become pregnant just as the relationship was ending) and F had subjected M …
Continue reading “Child arrangements – domestic violence”
Criminals are increasingly bold in their use of crypto assets for money laundering and related crime. New rules have been introduced, giving powers to the police and NCA to seize a suspect’s crypto assets without any arrest having been made. Related items, such as flash drives, memory sticks and written passwords, can also be seized. …
Continue reading “Proceeds of crime – crypto assets”
The parents of a baby girl (A) challenged (separately) a fact-finding made in care proceedings that one or the other of them had inflicted an abusive head injury on her. There were several grounds of appeal, focused mainly on the expert evidence. The judge found that the trial judge’s final ruling contained a number of …
Continue reading “Fact-finding – experts”
D was disqualified from driving for two years but, around 18 months later, breached that disqualification by driving a rented Audi Q7 car. He pleaded guilty to driving while disqualified (and to two further offences of possessing an offensive weapon and affray). The judge sentenced him to four months’ imprisonment for the driving offence and …
Continue reading “Sentencing – driving disqualification”
The presence of Japanese knotweed on property and the damage that it can cause is rarely out of the news headlines, so all property lawyers should consider a judgment on liability recently handed down by the SC. The press summary is as follows: ‘Background to the Appeal This appeal concerns the tort of private nuisance …
Continue reading “Knotweed – SC decision”
When an adult is sentenced for sex offences committed as a child, the starting point is the sentence likely to have been imposed if sentenced shortly after the offence – a principle established in R v Ahmed [2023] EWCA Crim 281. At issue in this case was whether the sentencing court should also take account …
Continue reading “Sentencing – historic sex offences; early release provisions”
The SC has heard an important case in which the following was considered: can an individual make a claim for psychiatric injury caused by witnessing the death or other horrifying event of a close relative as a result of earlier clinical negligence? The SC case summary is as follows: ‘Background to the Appeals The claimants …
Continue reading “SC – psychiatric injury”