In Suffolk Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust v Hurst and ors; Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust v Kaur and ors; Arnold and ors v Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council
The Road Safety Act 2006 introduced a new offence of causing death by careless or inconsiderate driving, which was to plug the gap in fatal accident cases where previously a charge of death by dangerous driving would usually result. The prosecution of a Portuguese driver of causing the deaths of a family in a motorway accident has brought this provision into recent prominence.
Specialised breakdown vehicles exceeding 3.5 tons maximum authorised weight are exempt from the tachograph working hours for drivers. Under EC Regulations 561/2006 the exemption covers the driving of these vehicles operating within a 100km radius of their base. How is this radius calculated?
Some relief to payers of Business Rates is to be introduced on 9 March 2009 in cases when the local rating list has been updated by Valuation Officers. The intention is to reduce the adverse effect of demands for backdated Rates on cash flows. Owing to a technicality backdated Rates were recoverable by the local authority in a single total amount and without any concession for instalment payments.
In Blackburn and anor v Chief Constable of West Midlands Police the Court of Appeal has confirmed that a bonus scheme limiting payment of a night shift premium to those officers who worked night shifts did not amount to unlawful sex discrimination.
Difficulties encountered with break notices continue to involve the Courts and are still regarded as a potential minefield. A recent Court of Appeal decision has considered the exercise of a break option by the sending of a fax, which was not permitted under the relevant Lease. The fax was not acknowledged at the time but was in a letter sent some 12 moths later. Did this validate the exercise of the break?
The Local Authorities (England) (Charges for Property Searches) Regulations 2008 came into force on 23 December 2008. They allow local authorities in England to make charges for providing access to property records and answering enquiries about a property.
The Government has dropped the Heritage Protection Bill from its legislative programme for 2008/2009. This was a controversial measure. Its chief proponents, English Heritage, was disappointed about the decision to postpone the Bill’s passage through Parliament but has taken comfort from the promise that the Bill will be introduced again to Parliament “at the earliest opportunity”.
The Court of Appeal has recently ruled that there needs to be something more special or exceptional to justify overriding the normal contractual expectation that a deposit paid by a Buyer will be retained by the disappointed Seller if the Buyer defaults under a Contract for Sale.
The High Court has recently ruled on the detailed terms of insurance policy and in particular the requirement to give immediate notice of a potential claim. A fire occurred in 2004 and notice of a claim was given in 2007, which was held not to be “immediate”.
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