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JHA | Blog
and and and and

Suing Unnamed Defendants or Persons Unknown: Cameron v Hussain [2017] EWCA Civ 366
Article originally published in Civil Justice Quarterly, Volume 37 Issue 4 2018 The Civil Procedure Rules (CPR) permit proceedings against unnamed defendants. This is available where wrongdoers conceal their identities, such as on the internet, or hit and run drivers. Under the Sixth Motor Insurance Directive, compulsory insurance is on the vehicle. The insurers’ responsibility
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Injunctions against Innocent bystanders
Sloane Street is lined with the outlets of retail brands. They own trade marks. They face competition from cheap imitations sold on the internet through web sites with addresses which change. No-one knows who the sellers are, or where they are. Their identity is concealed. No effective injunction can be obtained against them. The imitated
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EU Commission: Non-Taxation of McDonald’s Profits in Luxembourg Is Not State Aid
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The European Commission has concluded that Luxembourg did not breach EU state aid rules by not taxing certain profits of McDonald’s in that jurisdiction. The Commission’s investigation, launched in December 2015, focused on whether the non-taxation resulted from a misapplication of national laws as well as the Luxembourg-US Double Taxation Treaty. The Commission sought to
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Causation and Context
Causation in a contractual dispute is governed by application of the contract. In law context is everything. These principles were of central importance to the decision of the UK Supreme Court in Navigators Insurance Co Ltd v Atlasnavios-Navegacao Lda (The B Atlantic) 2 WLR 1671. Persons unknown, probably associated with a drugs gang attached
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UK VAT on Commodity Derivatives Trading – A Matter for the EU Court?
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The UK government is reportedly prepared to resist the European Commission’s challenge in the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) over the UK’s VAT treatment of commodity derivatives trading. The Commission has issued a formal notice of infraction proceedings (dated 8 March 2018) as well as a reasoned opinion (dated 19 July 2018)
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Owens v Owens and No-Fault Divorce – Progress at Last?
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Justice Secretary David Gauke is reportedly set to launch a consultation on reforming English family law to allow for so-called ‘no-fault’ divorces, where neither spouse is being blamed for the breakdown of the marriage. Calls for an overhaul of the law strengthened after the much publicised case of Owens v Owens  UKSC 41 (25 July 2018), where the husband opposed his wife’s divorce petition. Owens went all
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Suing Unnamed Defendants
Whether a claimant has to name a defendant, even when they cannot do so, has become of great importance. Cases include wrongdoers who commit fraud and other wrongs whilst concealing their identities using the internet, injunction cases in which wrongdoers cannot be identified, and hit and run drivers. Any civilised society has to allow the
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Have a break…perhaps they should!
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Nestlé may have been successful in trade marking its slogan…but it appears the four-fingered chocolate bar is not distinctive enough to warrant protection of its shape. The Court of Justice of the EU (“CJEU”), in a Judgment dated 25th July, upheld the General Court’s previous decision in 2016, wherein it annulled the earlier decision of
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US v Dempsey – Extradition Case Clarifies Offence of Perverting the Course of Public Justice
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On 6 July 2018 the High Court held in United States v Dempsey EWHC 1724 (Admin) that making a false statement to an agent of the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (“FBI”) in the context of suspected international terrorism was an extradition offence. The decision is important in that it clarifies the scope of
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Gordon, Connell, Martino, & Hills v HMRC [2018] UKFTT 307 (TC) – Discovering the Limits of S29 TMA 1970
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Human Rights Act    QROPS    TFEU    
Summary The First-tier Tribunal (Tax Chamber)’s recent decision in Gerrard Gordon; Gary Connell; Nicola Martino; Ian Hills v The Commissioners for Her Majesty’s Revenue & Customs UKFTT 307 (TC) held that a transfer from a pension scheme to a pension scheme which was held out to be a Qualified Recognised Overseas Pension Scheme (“QROPS”)
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