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)

Starting on Tuesday 8 May 2012 in front of Lords Hope, Walker, Kerr, Clarke and Dyson is the hearing of Phillips v Mulcaire. In this appeal the respondent had brought a claim alleging that her mobile phone voicemail had been intercepted by the appellant, a private investigator employed by News Group Newspapers. The High Court held that the information intercepted was confidential, commercial and/or personal information and so fell under the scope of the Senior Courts Act 1981, s 72, which removes the right to privilege against self-incrimination. It is for the Supreme Court to determine whether the intercepted confidential information is “intellectual property” within the meaning of s 72 and whether the appellant must also disclose who instructed him to intercept the messages and who he passed the information on to. This is scheduled for two days but sittings this week are postponed on Wednesday 9 May 2012 until the afternoon to accommodate the State Opening of Parliament, so it will run until Thursday 10 May 2012. Case details are available here.

On Tuesday 8 May 2012 in the Privy Council is the appeal of Cukurova Finance International Ltd & anor v Alfa Telecom Turkey Ltd, which stems from litigation relating to the ownership of high value shares in a company based in the British Virgin Islands. The Court of Appeal of the BVI granted the appellants an order for a stay of parts of the order granting the respondent the ownership of the shares, but this was conditional upon the appellants paying $1.45bn to the Court as security. It is for the Judicial Committee to determine whether the appellants have permission to appeal this order. Here are the case details.

Starting on Tuesday afternoon and recommencing on Wednesday afternoon is the appeal of Kelly & Ors v Fraser, on appeal from the Court of Appeal of Jamaica. The appellants are trustees of the pension fund paid into by the respondent, and received payments into the fund after it had been discontinued. They agreed to distribute the surplus to the beneficiaries, but only the portion connected with payments made since a transfer of the scheme that they had not approved. The issues before the Judicial Committee are (i) whether the respondent must have carried out  a positive act order to establish detriment; (ii) whether the difference in value of the pension surplus is sufficient detriment to
establish estoppel; and (iii) did the Court of Appeal fail to consider certain materially relevant facts. Case details are available here.

On Thursday 10 May 2012 is Melanie Tapper v Director of Public Prosecutions (Jamaica), which considers whether a delay of three years between the date of the appellant’s arrest and the date the Court of Appeal handed down judgment on the matter breached the appellant’s right to a fair hearing. Here are the case details.

There are no hand-downs scheduled for this Wednesday. This is, again, due to the State Opening of Parliament.

The following Supreme Court judgments remain outstanding:

Stanford International Bank Ltd (acting by its joint liquidators) v Director of the Serious Fraud Office, heard 23 – 25 January 2012.

Assange v The Swedish Judicial Authority, heard 1 – 2 February 2012.

R (KM) (by his mother and litigation friend JM) v Cambridgeshire County Council, heard 7 – 9 February 2012.

Test Claimants in the Franked Investment Income Group Litigation v Commissioners of Inland Revenue and anor, heard 20 – 29 February 2012.

R (HH) v Deputy Prosecutor of the Italian Republic, R (PH) v Deputy Prosecutor of the Italian Republic, Genoa, BH (AP) and another v The Lord Advocate and another (Scotland), KAS or H (AP) v The Lord Advocate and another (Scotland) and Genoa  Filipek-Kwasny v Polish Judicial Authority, heard 5 – 8 March 2012.

NJDB v JEG & Anor, heard 13 March 2012.

Humphreys v The Commissioners for Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs, heard 14 – 15 March 2012.

Perry & Ors v Serious Organised Crime Agency and Perry & Ors (No. 2) v Serious Organised Crime Agency, heard 20 – 23 March 2012.

R v Waya, heard 27 – 30 March 2012.

Fairclough Homes Ltd v Summers, heard 18 – 19 April 2012.

R (on the application of Alvi) v Secretary of State for the Home Department, heard 24 – 27 April 2012.

Secretary of State for the Home Department v Munir and anor, heard 24 – 27 April 2012.

Oracle America Inc (formerly Sun Microsystems Inc) v M-Tech Data Ltd, heard 30 April – 1 May 2012.