UK Supreme Court Blog

EDITORS: Dan Tench, Emma Cross, Zainab Hodgson, Francesca Knight, James Warshaw and Natalie Haefner (CMS)
Hugh Tomlinson KC, Matthew Ryder KC, Nandini Bulchandani and Daniel Rudd (Matrix)

The Supreme Court will hear two appeals this week.  First there is Houldsworth v Bridge Trustees Limited  and Secretary of State for Work and Pensions on Monday 20 and Tuesday 21 June 2011.  This will be heard by Lord Walker, Lady Hale and Lords Mance, Collins and Clarke. The Court is to decide whether the Court of Appeal was correct to hold that certain benefits provided under the terms of a pension scheme, which is currently being wound up with a significant deficit, were ‘money purchase benefits’ within the meaning of section 181 of the Pension Schemes Act 1993. The Supreme Court details are here.

The conjoined appeals of Edwards v Chesterfield Royal Hospital NHS Foundation and Botham v Ministry of Defence will be heard on Wednesday 22 and Thursday 23 June 2011 by a seven member panel consisting of Lords Phillips, Walker, Lady Hale, Lords Mance, Kerr, Dyson and Wilson.  Edwards involves a surgeon who was dismissed in circumstances in which his employer failed to comply with a contractually agreed disciplinary process and, despite allegations against him being summarily dismissed before the General Medical Council, has since been unable to secure permanent employment. Botham concerns a youth community worker employed in Germany and subsequently dismissed for gross misconduct and put on a list of persons deemed unsuitable to work with children. In a claim for unfair dismissal and breach of contract, the employment tribunal awarded him damages for breach of contract and compensation for unfair dismissal.

The issues before the Court are whether an employee can recover damages at common law for financial loss arising from his dismissal when that dismissal was attributable to the employer’s non-compliance with a contractually binding disciplinary procedure; whether an employee is able to recover as part of his damages legal expenses incurred in respect of disciplinary proceedings, and whether an employee is able to recover as part of his damages legal costs incurred in relation to proceedings in the Employment Tribunal, notwithstanding the statutory “no costs” regime in Employment Tribunal proceedings. The Supreme Court details are here and here.

The following judgments are due to be handed down on Wednesday 22 June 2011: R (Cart) v The Upper Tribunal (case preview is here); Eba v Advocate General for Scotland (Scotland); and R (MR (Pakistan)) v Secretary of State for the Home Department (heard 14 – 17 March 2011).

The Privy Council has only one appeal before it this week, Electra Daniel Administrator ad litem for the estate of George Daniel (deceased) v The Attorney General of Trinidad and Tobago, to be heard on Tuesday 21 June 2011 by Lord Brown, Lord Wilson and Sir David Keene. In this case, the Appellant was granted a declaration that the failure of the State to provide wheelchair access at the Hall of Justice breached his right to liberty under section 4(a) of the Constitution and the State was directed to take such immediate steps as may necessary to provide wheelchair access. The Privy Council is to decide whether the court was wrong to refuse to grant the declarations sought to the effect that his rights to equality of treatment from a public authority in the exercise of its functions and freedom of movement were also violated by reason of the said failure of the State to provide wheelchair access and other amenities for persons with disabilities; whether the reliefs granted afforded adequate vindication of the Appellant’s constitutional rights and whether the Appellant’s appeal was academic. The Privy Council case details are here.

Finally, the judgment in Tasaruff Mevduati Sigorta Fonu v Merrill Lynch Bank and Trust Company (Cayman) Limited and others, heard 31 January – 1 February 2011, is due to be handed down by the Privy Council on Tuesday 21 June 2011.

Judgments outstanding

The following Supreme Court judgments remain outstanding:

JP Morgan Chase Bank N.A. and another v Berliner Verkehrsbetriebe (BVG) Anstalt des Oeffentlichen Rechts, heard 11 November 2010

Al Rawi and others (Respondents) v The Security Service and others (Appellants), heard 24 -27 January 2011

Home Office (Appellant) v Tariq (Respondent), heard 24 – 27 January 2011

Perpetual Trustee Company Limited v BNY Corporate Trustee Services Limited and Lehman Brothers Special Financing Inc; and Belmont Park Investments PTY Limited v BNY Corporate Trustee Services Limited and Lehman Brothers Special Financing Inc, heard 1 – 3 March 2011.

Lucasfilm Limited and others v Ainsworth and another, heard 7 – 9 March 2011.

NML Capital Ltd v Republic of Argentina, heard 29 – 30 March 2011.

R (McDonald) v Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, heard 4 – 5 April 2011.

Jivraj v Hashwani, heard 6 -7 April 2011.

R (on the application of G) v The Governors of X School, heard 11 – 12 April 2011.

Kernott v Jones, heard 4 May 2011.

R v Waya, heard 5 May 2011.

Autoclenz Limited v Belcher and others, heard 11 – 12 May 2011.

Scottish Widows plc v Commissioners for Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (Scotland), Scottish Widows plc No.2 v Commissioners for Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (Scotland) and Scottish Widows plc (Respondent) v Commissioners for Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs, heard 16 – 19 May 2011.

Gale and another v Serious Organised Crime Agency, heard 23 – 24 May 2011.

R (on the application of Quila and another) (FC) v Secretary of State for the Home Department and R (on the application of Bibi and another) (FC) v Secretary of State for the Home Department, heard 8 – 9 June 2011.

AXA General Insurance Limited and others v The Lord Advocate and others (Scotland), heard 13 -15 June 2011.

R v Smith, heard 16 June 2011.

The following Privy Council judgments are awaited:

Romeo Cannonier & Ors v The Queen (St Christopher & Nevis) and Romeo Cannonier v The Queen (St Christopher & Nevis), heard 13 May 2010

The Public Service Appeal Board v Omar Maraj (Trinidad & Tobago), heard 5 October 2010

Rhett Allen Fuller v The Attorney General of Belize, heard 11 – 12 April 2011.

Rajendra Krishna v The Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, heard 13 – 14 April 2011.

Omar Grieves and Others v The Queen, heard 4 May 2011.

Permanent Secretary (Ministry of Foreign Affairs) and Patrick Manning v Feroza Ramjohn, heard 10 – 11 May 2011.

The Honourable Prime Minister Mr Patrick Manning, The Public Service v Ganga Persad Kissoon, heard 12 May 2011.

Winston Gibson v Public Service Commission; Ranjan Rampersad v Commissioner of Police and Police Service Commission; Robert Ramsahai v Teaching Service Commission; Ashford Sankar & Others v Public Service Commission; Gopichand Ganga and Others v Commissioner of Police and Others; and Hermia Tyson-Cuffie v Public Service Commission (Trinidad and Tobago), heard 17 – 19 May 2011.

Consolidated Contractors International Company SAL v Munib Masri, heard 26 May 2011.

The Legal Representative of Succession Paul de Maroussem v The Director-General, Mauritius Revenue Authority, heard 8 June 2011.

Phillip Tillet v The Queen (Belize), heard 9 June 2011.

Antonio Webster v The Attorney General of Trinidad & Tobago, heard 14 June 2011.

Emile Elias & Company Limited v The Attorney General of Trinidad and Tobago, heard 15 June 2011.