Legal Updates

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• New rules for personal injury actions in the sheriff court

  1 August, 2009

  New rules are to be introduced with effect from 2 November 2009 in connection with personal injury actions which are subject to the Ordinary Cause Rules in the sheriff court – that is, all personal injury actions which have a value in excess of £5,000. Any new ordinary cause actions commenced on or after 2 November 2009 in which the pursuer seeks damages for, or arising from, personal injuries or the death of a person from personal injuries will be subject to a new set of rules which are to all intents and purposes identical to the rules governing personal injury actions in the Court of Session which were introduced into the Court of Session in April 2003 and are generally referred to as Chapter 43 procedure in the Court of Session. In the case of the new sheriff court procedure, the rules governing personal injury actions are now to be found within Chapter 36 of the Ordinary Cause Rules…

• 3rd August 2009 - Modernising Planning Day

  1 July, 2009

  Some parts of the brave new planning system are already in force and coming into operation, but most of the real changes will come into effect on 3rd August 2009. Things are going to be very different, in content and in pace…

• Time-bar in historic child abuse claims - a defenders charter

  1 May, 2008

  The House of Lords has unanimously dismissed the appeals of two claimants in finding that their claims for physical abuse whilst children in a care home were timebarred. The ruling amounts in effect to a defender’s charter as it emphasises that all the defender requires to do is show substantial prejudice to have the case thrown out. In the leading judgment Lord Hope re-emphasised that it was more in accord with legislative policy that the pursuers’ lost right should not be revived than that the defender should have a spent liability re-imposed on him. He emphasises that the burden rests with the party who seeks to obtain the benefit of the remedy. These two cases and the recent case of Young v Catholic Care go a long way to clarifying the law in this area. No longer does it seem that the pursuer can argue that the judge must, in exercising his discretion, weigh up a number of factors in the balance. The most important element is whether there is prejudice to the defender and if that is substantial the case will fail…

• Ogling at Ogden

  1 May, 2008

  The Sixth Edition of the Ogden Tables was published on 3rd May 2007. It is to be assumed that the Tables are for immediate use. Published by the Government Actuary's Department they represent the product of Robin de Wilde QC and his Working Party of Actuaries, Lawyers, Accountants and other interested parties with input from all sides of the Debate…

• Cohabitation - Plans to introduce Legislation in England and Wales put on hold

  1 March, 2008

  It has been announced by Bridget Prentice, the Justice Minister for England and Wales that plans to give 2 million cohabiting partners in that jurisdiction similar rights to those held by cohabitants in Scotland have been shelved…