Judgment Call: 9th January 2012

Employment

7 December 2011

The annual leave requirements of the Working Time Regulations 1998 (regulation 13) were satisfied in the case of those who worked on offshore gas and oil installations by their repeating shift patterns of two weeks’ offshore work followed by two weeks’ onshore rest.

Appeal dismissed

For Russell

Matrix Chambers’ Thomas Linden QC; Devereux Chambers’ Peter Edwards; Thompsons partner

Rory McPherson

For Transocean International Resources

11KBW’s John Cavanagh QC; Simpson & Marwick solicitor-advocate Michael Jones QC; Simpson & Marwick partner Sandy Kemp

Civil procedure

Caterpillar Logistics Services (UK) Ltd v Huesca de Crean (2011) EWHC 3154. Queen’s Bench Division (QBD). Tugendhat J.

2 December 2011

The jurisdiction recognised in Bolkiah v KPMG (1999) to grant a barring injunction to preserve, after the retainer had ended, the confidentiality of information obtained by a solicitor from their client was not applicable to the relationship between an employer and a former employee because, ordinarily, the employee would not be a fiduciary.

Application refused

For Caterpillar Logistics Services

Littleton Chambers’ Selwyn Bloch QC and Gavin Mansfield; Walker Morris partner Malcolm Simpson

For Huesca de Crean

St Philip’s Edward Pepperall; Keelys partner Michael Phillips

Shipping

Sideridraulic System SpA v BBC Chartering & Logistics GmbH & Co KG (2011]) EWHC 3106. QBD (Commercial Court). Andrew Smith J.

30 November 2011

A cargo of filter tanks was ‘deck cargo’ because it had been carried on deck and was stated by the contract of carriage in the bill of lading to be carried on deck.

Consequently, the tanks were not ‘goods’ within the meaning of the Hague-Visby Rules and the Rules did not apply compulsorily.

Application granted

For Sideridraulic System

Quadrant Chambers’ Yash Kulkarni; Clyde & Co partner Philip Roose

For BBC Chartering & Logistics

Quadrant Chambers’ Stewart Buckingham; Holman Fenwick Willan partner Rory Butler

Intellectual property

Hodgson v Isaac. Patents County Court. Judge Birss QC.

5 December 2011

A screen writer and his company had infringed copyright by copying a substantial part of an autobiography in a film script. While the majority of dramatic events in the book had not been copied, the details and incidents and their interpretation, which were reproduced, formed a key part of what made the book original and amounted to a substantial part.

Judgment for claimants

For Hodgson

Trinity Chambers’ James Marwick; Endeavour Partnership solicitor Alex Smith

Litigant in person defendant

Andrew Isaac

Pensions

Singapore Airlines Ltd v Buck Consultants Ltd (2011) EWCA Civ 1542. Court of Appeal (Civil Division). Pill LJ; Sir Mark Potter; Arden LJ.

13 December 2011

The principles in Buckton (Costs), Re [1907] 2 Ch 406 on the award of costs between trustee and beneficiary in proceedings for the interpretation of a trust instrument were not to be regarded as closed. There was room for a further category of costs where the issue of construction was being pursued by a beneficiary and a third party in circumstances where, had it not been for the third party, the costs would have fallen into category two. The principled approach in that situation required a sharing of the costs between the parties.

Appeal allowed in part

For Singapore Airlines

Wilberforce Chambers’ Michael Furness QC; Pitmans director Parminder Latimer

For Buck Consultants

Wilberforce Chambers’ Paul Newman QC; Linklaters partner Mark Blyth

Defamation

Law Society v Kordowski (2011) EWHC 3185. QBD. Tugendhat J.

7 December 2011

The publisher of website Solicitors from Hell, which was defamatory and caused serious damage to the reputations of solicitors, firms and others listed on it, subjecting them to financial loss, embarrassment, anxiety and distress, was made subject to perpetual injunctions requiring him to cease its publication and restraining him from transferring it to anyone else or publishing any similar website.

Judgment for claimants

For the Law Society

Matrix Chambers’ Hugh Tomlinson QC and Sarah Mansoori; Brett Wilson partner Iain Wilson

Litigant in person defendant

Rick Kordowski

Environment

R (on the application of Clientearth) v Secretary of State for Environment Food & Rural Affairs. Unreported. QBD (Administrative Court). Mitting J.

13 December 2011

While the UK had conceded that it would breach its obligations under Directive 2008/50 article 13 to ensure that emissions of nitrogen dioxide did not exceed certain levels in various areas of the UK, it was inappropriate for the High Court to grant any declaratory relief as the concession spoke for itself. It was inappropriate to grant any mandatory order requiring compliance and it was for the European Commission to take any appropriate steps in respect of the breach.

Applications refused

For Clientearth

6 Pump Court’s Stephen Hockman QC

For Secretary of State for Environment Food & Rural Affairs

Monckton Chambers’ Kassie Smith