No doubt some Russian oligarchs are criminals and restricting their travel and seizing their assets is a proportionate response, but merely being connected to Putin is not. Where will it end? Just because a Russian oligarch has been bareback riding with Putin, does not make him a rogue. The legality of these sanctions is open to serious doubt anyway and I hope that a “good” oligarch with nothing to hide, applies to the UK court to have them lifted because I think the government will lose. An excellent article by Jonathan Ames (the times.co.uk) is well worth reading. Many lawyers…
The experience of Edward Heaton (thetimes.co.uk 29 July 2014) in being stuck with a minimum charge at a West End hotel, is widespread. The hotel’s response is that guests are made aware of the policy on arrival and rates are printed on the menus. Mr Heaton says he knew nothing about the minimum charge. To be binding of such a clause has to be drawn to the attention of the customer in a clear way, not just some small print on a menu. Hopefully the appalling publicity which has been heaped on the Wellesley Hotel, will get them to mend…
The way that Wonga and the leading clearing banks have demand letters sent out is summarised in an excellent article in the Law Society Gazette on 7 July by Elle McDonald What does not emerge is that there was no compulsion whatsoever to go to the trouble and expense of instructing a solicitor for such demands. On the contrary some of the “factory” operations that churn out these obviously mass produced demands, just get ignored or put “under the clock” by the debtor. It is not who writes the letter, but what it says. A simple demand to pay in…
An excellent article in The Law Society Gazette (www.lawgazette.co.uk) 14 July 2014 highlights what they call “revenge attack”. When a relationship breaks down one party, in possession of intimate images of the other, posts them online in an attempt to punish the other. Private digital images are routinely swapped between adults in relationships, but on the understanding that they are private. Unauthorised insemination of intimate material is a breach of the article 8 of human right of privacy. Max Moseley was awarded £60,000, but the phone hacking settlements have been much higher. There is a case called Vidal-Hall v Google…
The Civil Partnerships Act 2004 (CPA) covers this and mirrors the matrimonial law. Everything that goes for divorce goes for civil partnership apart from the words ‘petition’ and ‘decree’ being swapped for ‘application’ and ‘order’. Civil partners are not “spouses” and a civil partnership cannot be dissolved on the grounds of adultery. The other grounds; behaviour, separation and desertion apply. As a result of the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Act 2013 civil partners will be able to convert their civil partnership into a marriage which is easier than dissolving the civil partnership and then marrying. If you are in a…
The following employment law measures came into force on 6 April 2014: Financial Penalties for Employers Who Breach Employment Law An Employment Tribunal (ET) now has the discretionary power to impose a financial penalty on an employer who is found to have breached a worker’s employment law rights where the breach has one or more aggravating features. The penalty will be 50 per cent of any financial award, with a minimum penalty of £100 and a maximum of £5,000. The sum payable will be reduced by 50 per cent if the penalty is paid within 21 days. Acas Early Conciliation…
A collapse of her drugs trial of a possible prosecution of the Fake Sheikh thetimes.co.uk raises questions of entrapment. In the USA this case would never have been prosecuted. On any basis it is clear that Tulisa was asked to be “bad girl” and boasted about how “cool” and “street-wise” she was. This was to promote her career not because she meant. Even if the Fake Sheikh was an unnecessary ordeal for her to go through, there may come a time when such acquitted defendants start bringing personal claims against the prosecutors for Malicious Prosecution or Abuse of Public Office.…
Couples who have stayed together because of negative equity or struggling financially, can now see some daylight. As prices rise there is often enough for at least one if not both parties to buy somewhere reasonable to spend the time with the children. If there is only one property then a “Mesher” Order often solves the housing problem. This is when the mother stays in the house with the children, and the father has a sort of pension when the children cease full time tertiary education, by means of a charge on the property, often one third. Whatever the circumstances…
When a family business is handed down and ownership is split between two or more members of the next generation, the result can all too often be discord. Normally, this can be resolved by one party buying out the other, but when this does not occur, the result can be a disaster, as a recent case shows. It involved a family company owned by a man who died in 2001, leaving a controlling interest in the company to his children by way of a trust. Gradually, one of the children took over running the business and brought in her husband…
The Benefit/ Tax Credit Offices and Local Authorities are on the lookout for people claiming benefits to which they are not entitled, either deliberately or by accident. If they think you have committed a crime, they write stating that you have to attend an interview usually under caution. The letter is often signed by somebody who may not sound like a fraud investigator but is. “Benefits Enquiry Officer” or “ Audit Officer” but does not tell the whole story. Often the letter says that the interview is under the Police & Civil Evidence Act, and tape recorded and that you…
