High Court: King's Bench Division judgments, 2022

Meaning in a libel claim is determined by the single natural and ordinary meaning conveyed to the hypothetical reasonable reader. The publication must be read…

Specific disclosure should be ordered where the applicant establishes a prima facie case that the documents are relevant to a pleaded issue and likely to…

An interim injunction affecting protest and Convention rights requires evidence showing a real prospect of success at trial and a credible case of actual or…

In determining the meaning of allegedly defamatory publications, the court applies an objective standard of reasonableness. The publication must be read as a…

An interim planning injunction may restrain an apprehended material change of use where there is a serious issue to be tried, damages are inadequate, and the…

A claimant who has established defamation may nevertheless receive only nominal damages where, by the date of assessment, a public judgment has exposed…

A private law claim cannot be used to challenge judicial decisions or re-litigate issues which should have been pursued by appeal or judicial review. Claims…

An appellate court reviewing factual findings should presume that the first-instance judge considered the evidence unless the contrary is shown. It may…

The court may refer a costs-budget departure application to a costs judge where that judge will have fuller information and the referral is more expedient.…

A creditor who pays a debtor’s mortgage debt under a mistake may be subrogated to the mortgagee’s rights where the debtor is thereby unjustly enriched. Under…

An employer’s common-law duty to provide a safe place, system and equipment for work remains informed by health and safety regulations, although breach of…

Permission to bring contempt proceedings for false statements requires a strong prima facie case to the criminal standard and a separate assessment of the…

In a serious child brain-injury claim, uncertainty in forecasting future loss does not ordinarily justify postponing a quantum trial. Courts must make the best…

In determining meaning in a defamation claim, the court must identify the single natural and ordinary meaning conveyed to the hypothetical reasonable reader…

A professional executor cannot recover remuneration from an estate merely because the work was performed through the executor’s firm, the beneficiaries knew of…

QOCS applies to proceedings which, when the court determines enforcement of costs, include a claim for damages for personal injury. It applies to the…

For the purposes of Solicitors Act 1974, retention of a client’s money by a solicitor may constitute payment of a bill, but only where there has been a…

A coroner must make a prevention of future deaths report under paragraph 7 of Schedule 5 to the Coroners and Justice Act 2009 when the statutory criteria are…

Under the QOCS regime, a defendant’s costs order cannot be enforced against a settlement sum arising from acceptance of a Part 36 offer, because that sum is…

Check-off arrangements may form contractual terms where the relevant documents use language apt for incorporation, form part of contractual materials, reflect…

For an arrest under section 24 of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984, reasonable suspicion is a low-threshold question. The officer may consider all…

An application disputing fees recoverable under the Taking Control of Goods (Fees) Regulations 2014 should be brought against the enforcement agent who…

An accurate report of matters said in open court will generally not involve misuse of private information where the information has entered the public domain…

An interim injunction will not be granted to restrain disclosure of confidential or private information where the claimant cannot show that he is likely to…

Immigration detention is lawful where the Secretary of State intends to deport the detainee, uses detention only for that purpose, and objectively has a…

Where a Civil Procedure Rules 1998 Part 36 offer is accepted less than 21 days before trial, the court must determine liability for costs. The absence of…

Indemnity costs require conduct or circumstances outside the norm, meaning something outside ordinary and reasonable conduct of proceedings. Costs on the…

An employer’s duty in an asbestos case depends on whether the exposure gave rise to a real, significant risk of asbestos-related injury which a reasonable…

A local authority with possession or control of riverside land and moorings may obtain a final injunction to restrain persistent unlawful mooring or trespass.…

An anonymity order is an exceptional derogation from open justice. It may be made only where non-disclosure is strictly necessary to secure the proper…

In assessing negligence for historic asbestos exposure, foreseeability is judged by the conduct of the reasonable and prudent employer in light of actual or…

In a defamation claim, serious harm under section 1 of the Defamation Act 2013 may be proved by inferences drawn from the gravity and meaning of the…

On an application for default judgment, the court must determine whether the pleaded claim is in working order and can properly be given effect to on its own…

In a clinical-negligence claim, acute limb-ischaemia guidelines did not impose an inflexible requirement to operate within six hours. The appropriate time for…

A solicitor’s costs are recoverable from an opposing party only where the client is liable to the solicitor under the indemnity principle. Contractual…

An interim injunction restraining an alleged breach of planning control should be granted only where the restraint is commensurate with the harm relied upon.…

On an application to strike out or obtain summary judgment, the court must decide whether the claim has a realistic prospect of success without conducting a…

On a strike-out or summary-judgment application, the court asks whether the claim has a real, rather than fanciful, prospect of success. It must avoid…

In a defamation claim based on online reviews, publication by the defendant may be established where the defendant procured or participated in publication…

In assessing damages for asbestos-related disease, the court must distinguish losses caused by the tort from the effects of pre-existing conditions. Modest…

Interim and final injunctions may restrain protesters from trespassing on private structures, or on public land to which the public has no right of access.…

Costs normally follow the event. After an unsuccessful appeal, the usual order is that the unsuccessful party pays the successful party’s costs. The court…

At an interim case-management stage, evidence showing patterns in a body of similar claims is not inadmissible merely because it contains calculations or may…

Under section 1(1) of Defamation Act 2013, a claimant must prove that each publication caused or is likely to cause serious reputational harm. The test…

A borrower remains primarily liable for express contractual repayment obligations despite the existence of a guarantee, unless a clear and effective agreement…

In closed-material litigation, costs do not automatically follow the event. The court must assess success by taking a common-sense view of the litigation as a…

A claim in unjust enrichment based on free acceptance requires proof of every element of the applicable threshold test. The claimant must show that the…

Section 1 of the Defamation Act 2013 requires a claimant to prove serious reputational harm caused, or likely to be caused, by the particular publication. The…

A change from hotel use to a hostel use does not itself require planning permission. Under the Town and Country Planning Act 1990, the question is whether the…

A breach of the parties’ duty under the Civil Procedure Rules 1998 to help the court further the overriding objective may, on appropriate facts, constitute an…

Summary judgment under CPR Part 24 may determine a particular issue within a claim where doing so has a meaningful and purposive effect on the litigation…

On an application to set aside default judgment under CPR 13.3, the court must consider whether the defendant has a real prospect of successfully defending the…

Under the Civil Procedure Rules and Practice Direction 32, a witness statement for a witness who is not fluent in English must be drafted in the witness’s own…

A court may accept contractual undertakings as undertakings to the court, but it is not bound to accept every undertaking agreed in settlement. It may accept…

Accuracy under the fourth data protection principle depends on the meaning conveyed by the record in its context. A police occurrence summary report intended…

For contempt under section 9 of the Contempt of Court Act 1981, the prosecution must prove beyond reasonable doubt that the defendant deliberately made an…

The natural and ordinary meaning of a social-media publication is assessed objectively from the standpoint of the hypothetical ordinary reasonable reader. The…

In assessing statutory nuisance from noise, the court must consider all noise emanating from the premises. It cannot distinguish between noise arising from…

Clinical guidelines inform, but do not replace, the Bolam / Bolitho assessment of clinical negligence. Compliance with a satisfactory national guideline may…

In a defamation claim involving a corporate group, reference depends on identifying the person or company that is the subject of the allegations. A publication…

A request by a non-party for a publicly accessible court document is not itself ordinarily a “record of the court” merely because it is retained temporarily in…

Where protest activity engages Convention rights, an interim injunction requires more than a serious question to be tried. The claimant must show that it would…

Under Rome II, Spanish law governed the substantive assessment of damages for an accident in Spain, while English law governed procedure and evidence. The…

Derogations from open justice, including anonymity, are exceptional and must be strictly necessary. The applicant bears the burden of proving necessity by…

In a contribution claim arising from an asbestos-related mesothelioma action, the claimant had to prove, on the balance of probabilities, that the deceased was…

An employee who knowingly causes company funds to be paid against false invoices commits misconduct capable of justifying summary dismissal. A settlement…

In a sports-negligence claim, the duty is to take reasonable care not to expose participants to risks beyond those inherent in the sport. Liability is confined…

Indemnity costs require conduct or circumstances outside the ordinary and reasonable conduct of proceedings. The discretion is fact-specific and must be…

An interim injunction restraining protest activity may be granted where the claimant shows a serious issue to be tried, inadequate damages, a sufficiently real…

Under section 57 of the Criminal Justice and Courts Act 2015, a personal injury claim must be dismissed where the claimant is entitled to damages but has been…

A contempt application alleging breach of an injunction must identify, in a clear and concise chronological summary, the facts said to constitute the contempt.…

The court has a broad discretion when deciding costs, subject to the general rule that the unsuccessful party pays the successful party’s costs. The court must…

In a clinical negligence claim, breach of duty does not establish causation. The claimant must prove, on the balance of probabilities, that the breach caused…

In determining meaning in a defamation claim, the court must identify the single natural and ordinary meaning conveyed to the hypothetical reasonable reader…

Relief from sanctions is governed by the structured approach in Denton: assess the seriousness and significance of the breach, identify why it occurred, and…

A renewed application for permission to appeal will be refused where the proposed grounds merely challenge factual findings that were open to the trial judge…

For a debtor-creditor-supplier agreement under section 12(b) of the Consumer Credit Act 1974, the creditor’s credit agreement must be made under, or in…

The Police Regulations 2003 and the Secretary of State’s Determinations must be construed by ordinary statutory principles, read in their statutory and…

An interim injunction may be granted before proceedings are issued only where the matter is sufficiently urgent or the remedy is otherwise desirable in the…

Processing personal data for law-enforcement purposes must be necessary and proportionate. The necessity test is strict and requires a pressing social need. A…

The vulnerability provisions in Practice Direction 1A provide a structured reasoning tool for identifying vulnerability, its effects on participation, and…

Liability under section 2(2) of the Animals Act 1971 is strict, but each statutory condition must be proved. Under section 2(2)(a), whether damage or severe…

A publisher or source does not ordinarily owe the subject of a publication a duty of care in negligence to protect reputation or prevent psychiatric injury. A…

An occupier’s status and duty under the Occupiers Liability Act 1957 depend on the nature and extent of the control exercised over the relevant risk. A person…

A public authority may owe a duty of care when it gives discretionary advice, outside a formal statutory certification process, to an identified person who is…

Contempt of an injunction requires proof beyond reasonable doubt that the defendant knew of the order, breached it, and knew that the relevant acts breached…

On a renewed application for judicial review of a Financial Ombudsman Service jurisdiction decision, the court held that an ombudsman’s factual assessment is…

In civil contempt proceedings, the court must prove the breach to the criminal standard. Sentencing should address punishment, securing future compliance and…

In civil contempt proceedings arising from breach of an injunction, the court must sentence by reference to the purposes of punishment, securing future…

In civil contempt proceedings, the court must assess culpability and the harm caused, intended or likely to result from the breach. It must then consider all…

Summary judgment is inappropriate where competing factual accounts are closely interlinked and fuller investigation may affect the outcome. A claimant cannot…

An injunction may prohibit conduct in ordinary, non-technical language and may identify lawful activities by exception. It need not list every lawful activity…

In civil contempt proceedings, breach of an injunction must be proved beyond reasonable doubt. Sentencing has three objectives: punishment, securing future…

In civil contempt proceedings, contempt must be proved beyond reasonable doubt. Penalty serves three objectives: punishment, securing future compliance with…

In civil contempt proceedings arising from breach of an injunction restraining protest activity, the court must apply the criminal standard of proof. Penalty…

For civil contempt arising from breach of an injunction, the court must determine penalty by reference to punishment, securing future compliance and…

An employee who deliberately causes his employer to make unauthorised payments exceeding his contractual entitlement may be liable in conversion and for breach…

Contempt proceedings for breach of a civil injunction require proof beyond reasonable doubt. In fixing the penalty, the court should consider punishment…

In sentencing for civil contempt arising from breach of a civil injunction, the court should consider three objectives: punishment, securing future compliance…

In civil contempt proceedings arising from breach of an injunction, the claimant must prove the contempt beyond reasonable doubt. Sentencing must address…

An interim injunction may protect an extensive infrastructure route from anticipated trespass and nuisance where the claimant is likely to establish the torts…

In contempt proceedings, hearings are generally public. A private hearing is permissible only to the extent necessary to secure the proper administration of…

In assessing substantial future personal injury losses, the multiplicand/multiplier method should normally be used. Uncertainty about future earnings does not…

In contempt proceedings, the claimant must prove service of the injunction and the alleged breach beyond reasonable doubt. General knowledge that an injunction…

Permission under CPR rule 40.9 may be granted to a non-party directly affected by an injunction where the person has a good point to raise. The court should…

In civil contempt proceedings, the court has a broad discretion to select a proportionate sanction. The purposes are punishment, securing future compliance…

A court enforcing a committal order will not generally reconsider the lawfulness of the underlying conduct where that issue has already been determined by the…

Under section 184(11) of the Highways Act 1980, a highway authority may construct a vehicle crossover following a request by any person. Where the authority…

A Norwich Pharmacal order may be granted where the respondent is likely to hold relevant information, there is a good arguable case of wrongdoing, the…

In assessing future costs in group litigation, the court must make the best practical estimate available by focusing on the issues relevant to the particular…

A first-instance judge has no jurisdiction to revisit or set aside an order made by another judge of coordinate jurisdiction. A party dissatisfied with a…

On an appeal against factual findings, permission should be refused unless the proposed appellant can show that the findings were unsupported by the evidence…

Allegations of clinical or other professional negligence ordinarily require written support from a suitably qualified expert. The exception for cases where…

On an application under CPR 13.3 to set aside a regularly entered default judgment, the applicant must show a real prospect of successfully defending the…

Section 106 of the Representation of the People Act 1983 applies to false statements of fact about a candidate’s personal character or conduct, but not to…