United Kingdom
Company Law
Fraud tempts more directors of insolvent companies - 4 May
The number of directors of insolvent companies disqualified for
financial crime is soaring as the recession takes hold, according to
government figures. Research released by Wedlake Bell, the law firm,
based on figures from the Insolvency Service, shows a 72 per cent
increase in the year to the end of March in director
disqualification at insolvent companies where directors have been
implicated in fraud and other financial crime. The directors of 91
companies were banned for financial crime over the year as more
directors turned to fraud to try to salvage something for themselves
from ailing companies. -
Times Online
website
See also :
Employers warned of likely rise in staff fraud
Courts
Do not widen out-of-court penalties, magistrates tell Jack Straw
- 5 May
Magistrates want ministers to halt the widening of on-the-spot
fines for offenders, warning that serious crimes are not reaching
the courts. They have told Jack Straw, the Justice Secretary, that
the use of the fines in cases involving assault is undermining
confidence in the justice system. Defence solicitors say that
serious offences are being dealt with inappropriately, or not at
all, for lack of police time and resources. A dossier collated by
Edward Garnier, QC, the Conservative justice spokesman, indicates
lawyers' concerns that their clients are
being "let off"
over alleged assaults and even rape rather than prosecuted. -
Times Online
website
Ex-City lawyer wins right to sue for £5m over Catholic school
abuse - 6 May
The Roman Catholic Church in Britain could face a surge of
US-style compensation claims over child abuse after a former City
lawyer yesterday won the right to claim £5 million in damages.
Patrick Raggett, 50, claims that his life was ruined because of
years of insidious abuse by Father Michael Spencer, a teacher at
the Jesuit-run Preston Catholic College in Lancashire. Child abuse
has cost the Roman Catholic Church in the US more than $2.6
billion, with $436 million paid out last year alone. -
Times Online
website
Bid to transfer Lockerbie bomber - 6 May
The Libyan authorities have requested that the man convicted of
the Lockerbie bombing be transferred from Scotland. The
application for the transfer of Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi was
received by the Scottish Government. The move came after a
prisoner transfer agreement was ratified by the UK and Libyan
governments last week. -
BBC News
website
Would-be wine buff leaves bad taste - 3 May
Pursuing a dream to become a winemaker in South Africa has yielded
more than just sour grapes for a British businessman who now faces
fraud charges.
Tony Hindhaugh quit his pub chain management job in
England in 2005 and settled in Stellenbosch where he was filmed in
a 10-part documentary, The Grape Escape, while learning to
run a wine estate in a series screened on the Discovery Channel.
But after the TV cameras stopped rolling, Eaglevlei's
investors - who had reportedly ploughed £1-million into the
project - raised concerns over how the business was being run.
Hindhaugh left the wine estate under a cloud in 2007.
On Wednesday, the 39-year-old will appear in the
Newcastle Magistrate's Court in the UK
on charges of fraud and forgery. It is unclear if his arrest is
linked to his departure from the South African wine farm. -
The Times website
Criminal Justice
System
Public given greater
say as new crime strategy is published - 12 May
Local people will be able to choose how money from a £4 million
criminal assets fund is spent in their area, alongside further
targeted work to tackle property-related crime and a tougher
approach to dealing with prolific offenders. Speaking today at the
first conference for Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnerships (CDRPs),
the Prime Minister unveiled the Government's updated crime strategy
- Cutting Crime : Two Years On - and set out the Government's
commitment to tackling the new crime challenges the country faces.
The action the Government is taking will build on existing policies
to prevent crime and deliver responsive, visible justice which has
resulted in a fall in crime of almost 40 per cent since 1997. -
eGov Monitor website
Environment
'Dirty
tricks' over toxic waste - 13 May
London's
High Court will on Wednesday hear allegations of dirty tricks in the
biggest class action ever brought before the British courts. It
arises from the dumping of toxic waste three years ago in Ivory
Coast's largest city, Abidjan. In the aftermath, up to 100 000
people fell sick and 16 died. The waste belonged to a multi-national
oil trading company, Trafigura. In the wake of the incident, 30 000
Abidjanis are suing them for damages. The law firm representing the
Abidjanis, Leigh Day and Co, allege a dirty tricks operation by
Trafigura agents in Abidjan. In March this year, pending a full
hearing of those allegations, the High Court issued an injunction
forbidding Trafigura representatives - including leading London law
firm Macfarlanes - from contacting the claimants. -
BBC News website
Dirty tricks and toxic waste in Ivory Coast - 13 May
It is the biggest toxic dumping scandal of the 21st century, the
type of environmental vandalism that international treaties are
supposed to prevent. Now Newsnight can reveal the truth about the
waste that was illegally tipped on Ivory Coast's biggest city,
Abidjan. - Newsnight on the
BBC
News website
European Court of
Justice
News release from
Webber Wentzel
European Court of Justice rules in favour of South African
trade mark
13
May 2009
The European Court of
Justice ("ECJ") has delivered a much
awaited decision relating to a dispute between Ireland's glassware
giant, Waterford Wedgwood Plc, and a Stellenbosch based South
African company Assembled Investments (Pty) Ltd (which owns the
trade marks used by Waterford Wines (Pty) Ltd).
Leanne Mostert, a
partner in the Cape Town office of Webber Wentzel, who represented
Assembled Investments, commented, "On 7
May, after an almost decade long battle, the ECJ found in favour of
Assembled Investments. Not only is this a great victory for South
Africa, and for a South African brand but the decision also sets a
global precedent. We are clearly pleased with ECJ's decision and the
positive impact it will have on our client's business".
"The ECJ's
decision finally puts to bed a long disputed issue. It establishes
that even where a proposed trade mark is identical or similar to an
earlier mark with a particularly high distinctive character, there
must still be some degree of similarity between the respective goods
to establish a likelihood of confusion. Only then will the owner of
an earlier mark be able to prevent the registration of a proposed
similar mark on the basis of Article 8(1)(b) of the
EU community trade mark
regulations".
The dispute between
the two companies first arose following the application by Assembled
Investments to register a trade mark containing the words "Waterford
Stellenbosch" for its wines in Europe.
Waterford Wedgwood
argued that Assembled Investments' mark
would lead to confusion in the marketplace and opposed the trade
mark application on the basis of its own community trade mark
"Waterford"
registered earlier in connection with, among other products,
glassware including wine glasses.
Mostert says the
decision also confirms the 2007 decision of the EU's Court of First
Instance that wine and wine glasses are not similar products despite
a certain degree of complementarily between them.
Waterford Wines has
been producing award winning wines at the Waterford Wine Estate in
the Stellenbosch district, near Cape Town, South Africa since 1998.
Jeremy Ord, a founder of Didata is one of the owners of Waterford
Wines.
Note to editor :
Article 8(1)(b) of the
EU of the community trade mark regulations provides that, where the
proposed mark is identical or similar to another's
earlier mark and is sought to be registered in connection with the
same or similar goods as the earlier mark, its registration will be
refused if such identity or similarity is likely to give rise to
confusion in the market place. Confusion in this context includes
the likelihood of any association of the proposed mark with the
earlier mark.
Issued by : FD
Beachhead
Family Law
Mother denied all access to her children - 10 May
A court has denied the former wife of a rich City financier all
access to their three children after she was found to be turning
them against him. In an extraordinary ruling, the woman, who was
also judged to be too indulgent a parent, has been legally barred
from seeing her children for three years. She was jailed for
approaching one of them in the street and telling him she loved him
in breach of a court order. She is facing a possible return to jail
this summer for posting a video about her plight on the internet.
The woman judge presiding over the case justified banning contact
between the mother and her children because they were being placed
in "an intolerable situation of conflict
of loyalties resulting in them suffering serious emotional harm".
-
Times Online website
City tycoon in £11 million divorce battle admits to keeping a second
family - 12 May
City tycoon Brian Myerson, who is fighting an £11 million divorce
settlement on grounds that the recession slashed his wealth, has
admitted to leading a double life with a mistress and child for
seven years. Mr Myerson, a leading financier, said that he had a
secret second family in a house around the corner from his then
wife, Ingrid and their three children in Hampstead, north west
London. However, he said that he was "an extremely good and caring
husband" and in a withering attack, argued that his ex-wife deserves
a fraction of the £11.2 million she received. -
Telegraph website
'I would do it all again'
- 12 May
Plettenberg Bay polo baron Brian Myerson said he was
"an extremely good, caring husband"
to his former wife Ingrid - though he
enjoyed a 10-year "parallel marriage"
to another woman.
Myerson, 50, a Johannesburg- born British tycoon, hit the
headlines for trying to get a British court to reduce the
R142-million divorce settlement awarded to his former wife, Ingrid,
on the grounds that the credit crunch had shrunk his fortune.
In an interview with the London Evening Standard,
the man who often arrived at polo matches in a helicopter said he
kept his mistress and love-child secret from his wife but not from
his business partners. -
The
Times website
Ex-wife asks for more money after former husband's company jumps in
value - 14 May
The ex-wife of a businessman has asked a court to increase the size
of her divorce payout after his company quadrupled in value. Kim
Walkden, 47, accepted a settlement of £482 000 in August 2007, based
on an assessment that valued her husband's timber products company
at £800 000. But just two months later the firm Triesse was valued
at £3.8 million in a takeover deal that netted 47-year-old Martin
Walkden £1.75 million. Mrs Walkden, who also receives maintenance of
£1 100 a month, took her case to the Court
of Appeal after being given permission by a judge to seek a
renegotiation of the original settlement. During the hearing her
ex-husband's lawyer cited the case of the City financier Brian
Myerson, who unsuccessfully attempted to have his £11.2 million
divorce payout to his wife cut because his fortune has been wiped
out by the recession. -
Telegraph website
Freedom of Religion
Court says no to plea for funeral pyre - 8 May
A Hindu spiritual healer has lost a legal battle for the right to be
cremated on a traditional open-air funeral pyre. Devender Ghai, 70,
from Newcastle-upon-Tyne, has been campaigning for several years to
be allowed a traditional Hindu-style cremation in the United
Kingdom. Although permission had been granted by Northumbria Police,
the cremation led to outrage as the Department of Constitutional
Affairs and Newcastle City Council said it was illegal to hold
open-air cremations under the Cremation Act. He was
subsequently denied a licence for a pyre site by Newcastle City
Council, prompting him to take the case to the High Court in London.
-
Sky News website
Law preventing open-air funeral pyres is
justified - 18 May
Times Online website
See :
Queen's Bench Division
8 May 2009
[2009] EWHC 978
Regina (Ghai) v Newcastle upon Tyne City Council
Privacy
Agency denies internet spy plans - 4 May
The UK's electronic intelligence agency has taken the unusual step
of issuing a statement to deny it will track all UK internet and
online phone use. Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ)
said it was developing tracking technology but "only acts when it
is necessary" and "does not spy at will". The denial follows the
home secretary scrapping plans for a single government database
for all communications. -
BBC
News website
UK 'least
wanted' list published - 5 May
The names of some of the people barred from entering the UK for
fostering extremism or hatred have been published for the first
time. Islamic extremists, white supremacists and a US radio host
are among the 16 of 22 excluded in the five months to March to
have been named by the Home Office. -
BBC News website
Should people be barred from the UK? - 5 May
The names of the people barred from entering the UK for fostering
extremism or hatred have been published for the first time. Do you
agree with them being publicly named? -
BBC News website
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