Recovery of compensation for a miscarriage of justice – what is a "new or newly discovered fact".
In the main UN human rights Convention, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights 1966, the guarantee of a fair trial is in Article 14. It reflects Article 6 of the ECHR but has some additional provisions, including that those whose criminal convictions are overturned in circumstances where there has been a miscarriage of justice shall be entitled to compensation. (There is a similar provision in a Protocol to the ECHR.) The UK is a signatory to the ICCPR and has given effect to i ...
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Is the statutory regime for reclaiming overpaid benefits exclusive, or does the common law of restitution apply?
The question arising in this case was whether the right that exists under s71 of the Social Security Administration Act 1992 for the Secretary of State to recover an overpayment of social security benefit received as a result of a misrepresentation or failure to disclose a material fact was the sole method by which recovery was possible. The reason the issue was important was that there were significant numbers of cases where there were overpayments that were not the result of any fault on the p ...
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The Appellant Travellers were in part successful in their appeal to the extent that the Court did not have the power to make a possession order in respect of a separate piece of land owned by the Respondent but not occupied by the Appellant Travellers. The decision in the case of Drury v Secretary of State for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (2004) EWCA Civ 200 (2004) 1 WLR 1906 allowing such an order was incorrect.
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The Appellant landowner was successful in appealing against the decision of a judge that the landowner’s asserted right to use a servient track to access his dominant land was limited to all reasonable and usual purposes relating to the use of the land as “garden ground”. On the proper construction of the relevant conveyances the track could lawfully be used for the purposes of building houses on the dominant land and their occupation when built.
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The SRA received complaints that the two partners in a solicitors firm had each been guilty of conduct unbefitting of a solicitor as they had failed to give sufficient information to clients about costs and funding of claims generally and had accepted referrals of business in breach of the Solicitors' Introduction and Referral Code. The tribunal ordered that the partners be struck off the Roll of Solicitors. They appealed, but the appeal was dismissed as it was held that the tribunal had made fi ...
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The advice of Counsel to accept an offer to setztle in respect of a professional negligence arising out of a time-barred clinical negligence case was advice to be expected of a reasonably competent solicitor or barrister and was in fact very good advice.
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A claim was brought against insurance brokers in respect of the renewal of an excess layer of insurance. Cover under the new policy was limited to the Claimant’s commercial property management activities and did not extend to valuation activities which are distinct activities in terms of professional indemnity insurance. The brokers’ claim that the policy should be rectified so that that cover included valuation activities failed on the evidence. Similarly the brokers’ allegation of contributory ...
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In 1999 Mr Emmanuel joined a surgery as a partner and general practitioner. In January 2004 he was included on the first respondent care trust's medical performers list. In June 2008, the trust was informed of allegations relating to Mr Emmanuel, namely that he had engaged in an improper relationship with a former patient by whom he had fathered a child. The complaint was investigated by the trust and there followed an oral hearing after which he was suspended from the list. In March 2009, Mr Em ...
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Judge Entitled To Reject Personal Injury Claim Where Eyewitness Evidence Did Not Support Claimant’s Evidence
The Court of Appeal held that the Trial Judge had been entitled to dismiss the Claimant’s claim for personal injury and loss sustained in a football match. The Claimant gave evidence that he had had sustained a catastrophic spinal injury as a result of a foul tackle by the Defendant football player, an allegation which the Defendant denied. Eyewitnesses had given evidence which did not support the Claimant’s account of the accident. The Court of Appeal held that the Judge had been entitled to ta ...
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Exposure To Asbestos Above Minimal Level Enough To Establish Risk Of Harm
The Court of Appeal held that whilst there had been insufficient evidence before the Judge to support the second of three sources of exposure to asbestos found by the Judge, the Judge had been entitled to find a more than de minimis exposure to asbestos from the other two sources. Accordingly, it was not enough to eliminate one source of exposure if another or others remain in place as there is no safe dose of asbestos. Thus, once exposure to asbestos above a minimal level is found to exist, a r ...
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