Many environmental impact reports and negative declarations will breeze through analyses of a development project’s impacts on cultural resources ...
The court has considered the discretionary grounds of opposition under the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954 (“the 1954 Act”) in the recent case of Gill v Lees News Ltd [2023] EWCA Civ 1178. In the case, the landlord - Mr Gill - served counter notices in response to section 26 requests for renewal tenancies pursuant to the 1954 Act served by the tenant, Lees News Ltd ...
In X v Jemmy Chien, HCCT 31/2019 the Plaintiff applied to set aside an arbitration award on the ground that there was no valid arbitration agreement between the Plaintiff and Defendant. The Plaintiff’s case was that the Defendant was not the true party to the Service Agreement containing the arbitration agreement, as he had signed it as agent for another (Chen) who was the principal and true party to the Service Agreement ...
In the recent case of Cheng Pan & Anor v Yau Lai Wah, HCA 376/2015, the Court held the Defendant liable for loss and damage caused by water leakage from his property into a neighbouring property, which resulted from the Defendant’s contractors carrying out works to pipes located in the Defendant’s property ...
In a scenario that has played out across the country for nearly a year now, a group of restaurants based in Ohio were ordered by government authorities to close their on-site dining operations to abate the spread of the coronavirus. However, when the restaurants sought insurance coverage for their loss of business income, their insurer, Zurich American Insurance Company, denied coverage. Last week, the U.S ...
The recent case of Bond Tak (Holdings) Ltd v King Fame Trading Ltd, HCA 2129/2018, concerned an application by the Defendant to dismiss or permanently stay the High Court action on the grounds that the dispute was subject to an arbitration agreement and should be submitted to arbitration or, alternatively, the action should be stayed on the grounds of forum non conveniens and in favour of the Intermediate People’s Court of Guangzhou City in Mainland China (Guangzhou Court) ...
In the recent case of Redland Precast Concrete Products (China) Ltd v Permasteelisa Hong Kong Ltd, HCCT 35/2018, the Court had to decide whether a contract existed between the Plaintiff and Defendant whereby the Defendant agreed to appoint the Plaintiff as its subcontractor for works to be carried out on a project ...
In the recent case, Wong Wai Yin v Buildings Department, HCAL 1722/2020, the Court dismissed the Applicant’s application for leave to apply for judicial review against a decision made by the Director of Buildings (Director) of the Buildings Department (BD) to prosecute her for failing to comply with an order to demolish unauthorized building works (UBW) ...
Key Points Public agencies must retain emails that would be required for inclusion in an administrative record pursuant to CEQA. Agencies must retain “[a]ll written evidence or correspondence submitted to, or transferred from” them “with respect to” CEQA compliance or “with respect to the project.” This includes emails that fit this description ...
(Antelope Valley Groundwater Cases, JCCP No. 4408 (3/16/21))[1] After twenty-two years, the protracted proceedings in the Antelope Valley groundwater adjudication resulted in a settlement and court-approved "physical solution." A physical solution equitably allocates available water under California's laws governing water rights. The physical solution in Antelope Valley limited pumping to balance the overdrafted aquifer with the available native safe yield ...
The Court of Appeal has overturned a decision by the Upper Tribunal and confirmed that a property guardianship scheme did not mitigate liability for business rates. Background Property guardians are individuals who temporarily live in empty property at reduced rents, ostensibly to protect it from damage and squatters. Typically, they are students, key workers or young professionals looking for cheap living space ...
Key Points The California Court of Appeal has issued the first published opinion interpreting California Senate Bill 35's (SB 35) new laws that streamline the approval of much-needed housing projects. Under SB 35, qualifying housing projects are eligible for ministerial review, which can reduce entitlement processing times by months if not years. In Ruegg & Ellsworth v. City of Berkeley (Cal. Ct. App., April 20, 2021, No ...
The Court of Appeal (CoA) has allowed a SIPP investor’s appeal in Adams v Options UK Personal Pensions LLP (2021) EWCA Civ 474 and provided important guidance on the interpretation of Article 25 and 53 of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 Regulated Activities Order 2001 ...
There were conflicting judicial opinions of first instance courts as to whether the exception in summary judgment applications under Order 14, rule 1(2)(b) of the Rules of the High Court (Cap. 4A) (Fraud Exception) covers actions in which the defendant is not alleged to be a party to the fraud, but where allegations of fraud are made against a third party. In R. Stahl Inc ...
In the Industrial Tribunal case of David Magro v HSBC Bank Malta plc, the applicant alleged that he had been unfairly dismissed when the defendant bank had not accepted to renew his career break, resulting in his employment being terminated. The applicant had been granted such a renewal for several years but had agreed with the Bank that the last renewal would be final, and that by a specific date, he had to either resign or return to perform his duties with the Bank ...
Under section 327 of the Companies (Winding Up and Miscellaneous Provisions) Ordinance (Cap. 32), the Court can exercise its discretion to wind up a foreign-incorporated company. A recent case reaffirms the three core requirements necessary to enable the court to exercise that discretion ...
In Competition Commission v W. Hing Construction Co Ltd & Ors [2021] HKCA 877, the Court of Appeal refused to determine whether the standard of proof in competition proceedings for a pecuniary penalty should be lowered from the criminal standard of proof to the civil standard of proof, after concluding that the present case was not an appropriate avenue for such issue to be argued ...
On the 15th of September 2023, the Court of Appeal (Inferior Jurisdiction) (Appeal Number: 155/2022 LM) reversed the Industrial Tribunal’s decision that had previously considered that the plaintiff had been unfairly dismissed from his employment with a bank. The Court was tasked with deciding on the employee’s allegations during proceedings which primarily related to claiming discriminatory treatment and unfair dismissal ...
In 鄧錦祥 v 鄭鄧錦容 , CACV 370/2019, the Hong Kong Court of Appeal exercised its discretion to dismiss the Respondent’s late application for security for costs and reminded litigants and their legal representatives of their duty to proceed promptly with making interlocutory applications in an appeal, as delay in making such applications can be a ground for the court to dismiss them, especially where a hearing date for the appeal has already been fixed ...
The appeal in ABC Electrification Ltd v Network Rail Infrastructure Ltd [2020] EWCA Civ 1645, concerned the proper construction of a Target Cost Contract based upon the standard Institute of Civil Engineers Conditions of Contract, Target Cost Version, First Edition (ICE Conditions) and subject to standard amendments commonly used in the rail industry, known as Network Rail 12 (N12 Amendments) ...
The Court of Appeal has overturned an earlier decision of the High Court in which guidance was given on the circumstances where a child might be able to give consent to the administration of puberty blockers ...
In case 161/2022/LM, delivered on 11th October 2023, the Court of Appeal upheld the decision of the Industrial Tribunal, which found justifiable reasons for dismissal. Following the Tribunal’s conclusion that the grounds for dismissal presented by the defendant company were justified, and consequently, the dismissal was fair, the former employee contested this decision in front of the Court of Appeal ...
In a long-awaited judgment, the Court of First Instance of the European Communities (“CFI”) partially upheld on December 14, 2005, the European Commission’s decision of July 3, 2001 to block the proposed acquisition of Honeywell International Inc. (“Honeywell”) by General Electric Company (“GE”). In its decision, the Commission had considered that the merger should be blocked for three sets of reasons ...
On the 4th March 2021, the Seventh Chamber of the Court of Justice of the European Union issued its decision on an important matter related to the breach of ambient air quality legislation by the UK government (European Commission v. United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, c-664/18). This case is only one among several others filed by the Commission against EU Member States, including France, Italy, Bulgaria and Hungary ...
