The Competition Appeal Tribunal’s decision in Balmoral Tanks v CMA  could almost have been conceived as a case study. It contrasts an old fashioned cartel, involving organised price fixing and customer allocation, with “loose pricing talk” among competitors, and reminds us that modern competition law is well equipped to deal with both. The decision also takes a robust approach to the calculation of fines, declining to interfere with the CMA’s calculations, despite some apparently anomalous results.

Rob Williams and James Bourke acted for CMA.

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The comments made in this case note are wholly personal and do not reflect the views of any other members of Monckton Chambers, its tenants or clients.

This case note was first featured in the August 2017 issue of De Voil.

The Upper Tribunal’s decision in Revenue and Customs Commissioners v J3 Building Solutions Ltd [2017] UKUT 253 (TCC) (“J3 BS”) perhaps belatedly seeks to clarify the law in relation to the zero rating of construction works to existing buildings although relevant statutory provisions changed in 1995.  Rather than clarifying the law, it exposes a conflict in authorities which needs resolving.

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The comments made in this case note are wholly personal and do not reflect the views of any other members of Monckton Chambers, its tenants or clients.

Secretary of State for Work and Pensions v HY (RP) [2017] UKUT 303 (AAC) (“HY”)

Alexandra Littlewood, Pupil Barrister, Monckton Chambers

Summary

In the latest round of judicial scrutiny of the legislation governing gender reassignment, the Upper Tribunal (“UT”) has held that the Gender Recognition Act 2004 is compatible with EU anti-discrimination law. Next up, the Court of Justice of the European Union (“CJEU”) will consider a similar question on a reference from the Supreme Court in MB v Secretary of State for Work and Pensions [2016] UKSC 53.

HY concerned the rights of male-to-female transgender people to claim a state retirement pension at the lower pensionable age applicable to women. The UT held that the UK legislative scheme, which requires a male-to-female transgender person to hold a gender recognition certificate before claiming retirement pension on the basis that they are a woman, was compatible with EU law. Its conclusions turned on its interpretation of the equal treatment principle in Council Directive 79/7/EEC on equal treatment for men and women in matters of social security, and on the CJEU’s seminal judgment in Case C-423/04 Richards v Secretary of State of Work and Pensions.

Ben Lask was instructed by the Government Legal Department for the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions. Brendan McGurk was instructed by Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer LLP for the claimants.

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R (DA and others) v Secretary of State for Work and Pensions

Shelter intervening

References to paragraph numbers are references to the DA judgment.

Overview

On 22 June 2017, the High Court (Collins J) ruled that the application of the ‘Benefit Cap’ to lone parents with children under two years old is unlawful because it discriminates, without justification, against both those parents and their children.

Ian Wise QC and Michael Armitage were instructed (along with Caoilfhionn Gallagher QC of Doughty Street Chambers) by Hopkin Murray Beskine for the Claimants.

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The comments made in this case note are wholly personal and do not reflect the views of any other members of Monckton Chambers, its tenants or clients.

Hot on the heels of its first decision under the new collective proceedings regime, the Competition Appeal Tribunal has just handed down judgment following the first trial held under the “fast-track” procedure introduced as part of the Competition Appeal Tribunal Rules 2015: Socrates Training Limited –v- The Law Society of England and Wales [2017] CAT 10. Whereas, in 399 BC, the City of Athens found the philosopher guilty of “failing to acknowledge the gods that the city acknowledges”, the Tribunal in this case held that the Law Society had, for part of the period covered by the claim, offended against the twin deities of UK competition law -the Chapter I and Chapter II prohibitions – by requiring law firms to purchase certain training courses exclusively from the Law Society, as a condition of membership of an accreditation scheme.

The Judgment will be of interest to all competition law practitioners, but especially to those advising SMEs. And not a hemlock in sight…

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Socrates was represented by Philip Woolfe and The Law Society was represented by Kassie Smith QC and Imogen Proud.

 

On 11 April 2017, the Supreme Court handed down its judgment on certain preliminary issues in the long-running challenge by ATK Energy EU Ltd (formerly, Energysolutions EU Limited) to the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority’s (“NDA“) award of a 14-year contract for the decommissioning of 12 Magnox power stations and two others (the “Magnox Contract“) to a consortium known as CFP. ATK was a member of the Reactor Site Solutions (“RSS“) consortium that made an unsuccessful bid for the Contract.

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The comments made in this case note are wholly personal and do not reflect the views of any other members of Monckton Chambers, its tenants or clients.

Ewan West acted for ATK Energy EU Ltd throughout the Magnox Contract litigation and appeared for ATK before the Supreme Court.

Philip Moser QC acted for the NDA in the Court of Appeal in respect of the Liability judgment  and the Sufficiently Serious judgment.

Michael Bowsher QC and Ligia Osepciu acted for Bechtel Management Company Limited and Philip Moser QC acted for the NDA in the Bechtel claim.

The High Court’s detailed judgment in Microsoft contains a number of points of real practical significance for competition practitioners that merit close consideration, particularly when considering the myriad of jurisdictional issues that can arise at the outset of claims for damages against multiple defendants allegedly involved in international cartels.

Ms. Laura Elizabeth John (instructed by Mishcon de Reya LLP) for Microsoft Mobile OY (Ltd).

Mr. Daniel Beard QC (instructed by Allen & Overy LLP) for Samsung SDI Co Ltd.

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The comments made in this case note are wholly personal and do not reflect the views of any other members of Monckton Chambers, its tenants or clients.

The Appellant, Susan Turley, was the long-term partner of the sole tenant of a four-bedroom house in Battersea Park.  The tenancy was a secure tenancy under the Housing Act 1985 (‘the Act’), and the landlord was the London Borough of Wandsworth, the First Respondent.  In 2010 there was a breakdown in the relationship between the Appellant and the tenant, and in December of that year he moved out of the property.  He returned in January 2012 but by then he was seriously ill, and he died in March 2012.  In his absence from the property the tenant did not give up the tenancy, leaving the Appellant and their younger children living there.

Ben Lask represented the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government.

The comments made in this case note are wholly personal and do not reflect the views of any other members of Monckton Chambers, its tenants or clients.

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Please click here to read the news item on this case.

 

John Shrimpton et al v. Dominic Scriven et al, BVIHCMAP2016/0031

Summary

The Court of Appeal of the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court (the ‘Court’) has upheld a recent ruling that the common law right to claim the fees of foreign lawyers as a disbursement of BVI counsel was abrogated by s. 18(3) of the Legal Profession Act 2015 (‘LPA’). As a consequence, the current position is that the fees of foreign lawyers are no longer recoverable in proceedings conducted in the BVI, regardless of whether the foreign lawyer’s activities were ‘reasonable and necessary’ for a foreign lawyer to carry out in relation to the BVI case.

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Summary: The appellants’ British passports were cancelled on the grounds that they were suspected of intending to travel abroad in order to get involved with terrorism-related activity. The Court of Appeal dismissed the appellants’ argument that the Secretary of State’s exercise of purported power under the Royal Prerogative to cancel their passports was unlawful as the power had, in their submission, been excluded or limited by the Terrorism Prevention and Investigation Measures Act 2011. Instead, the Court held that such a prerogative power continues to exist. The Court of Appeal also dismissed arguments made on behalf of XH that the exercise of such power was, in any event, unlawful on the basis of EU law norms of procedural fairness. This case note discusses the first ground of appeal relating to the Royal Prerogative.

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Daniel Beard QC, Nikolaus Grubeck and Julianne Kerr Morrison were instructed by Hickman and Rose and acted on behalf of AI.

The comments made in this case note are wholly personal and do not reflect the views of any other members of Monckton Chambers, its tenants or clients.