Articles

Graham Walters, Head of the Public, Planning & Regulatory Group in Civitas Law, provided an update for planning and development professionals across Wales in the winter edition of the Royal Town Planning Institute's (RTPI) magazine.

Emma Waddingham, Business Development Manager at Civitas Law, outlines the concerns, opportunities, changing regulations and welfare benefit updates for professional Deputies - responsible for protected parties - in the December 2011 issue of the APIL PI Focus.

Civitas Law hosted an exclusive roundtable of leading planning, development, funding and legal experts to debate the latest thinking in localism, planning, reform, development plans and dispute resolution. The debate was published in the December issue of the Wales Business Insider magazine - Wales' only independent magazine for the profesisonal and commercial sectors.

Cathrine Grubb, Barrister and member of the Dispute Resolution Division, Civitas Law authored a recent article for landlords, developers, homeowners and property investors on the benefits of mediation as alternative form of resolving disputes rather than going to court.

In the new world of ABSs (Alternative Business Structures), the knowledge and expertise of barristers isn't enough to compete. What's needed is clear leadership from visionaries with a more corpoate mindset, according to Emma Waddingham, Business Development Manager, Civitas Law.

Graham Walters, Head of the Civitas Law Public, Planning and Regulatory Group authored an article on planning enforcement and lawfulness of existing use under the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 s 191. The article appeared in the RTPI Young Planners Cymru newsletter, Summer 2011.

The Hard Sell. When does a new car actually belong to the purchaser? Nick Thomas-Symonds investigates.

This month Jonathan Walters summarises new cases of interest which have been reported in the last few weeks and gives a short summary of each one, including Patel v Oldham Borough Council UKEAT/0025/09, Domnica Petersen v Berufungsausschuss für Zahnärzte für den Bezirk Westfalen-Lippe Case C‑341/08, and Parviainen v Finnair Oyj (C-471/08).

This is November’s up-dating bulletin, in which Jonathan Walters picks out a few new cases of interest which have been reported in the last few weeks and gives you a short summary of each one.

Ryan Amesbury reviews further recent Employment cases.

- To what extent must a Tribunal have regard to the injustice caused to an employee?

After a somewhat extended summer break due to technical difficulties the employment law bulletin is back up and running. Since the date of the last bulletin sadly Mr Philip Marshall of Iscoed Chambers, Swansea passed away after a long illness. Philip was a highly regarded lawyer on the Wales and Chester Circuit. He was an extremely able opponent and a real gentleman both in and out of Tribunal. He will be sadly missed.

Mona Bayoumi reviews notable Employment Cases from the past few weeks.

On 16th July 2009 Civitas Employment Team delivered a seminar to an audience of public sector lawyers and HR professionals at Gwent Police headquarters in Cwmbran. The talk, focusing on the Public Interest Disclosure provisions of the Employment Rights Act 1996, was presented by the head of the Employment Team Jonathan Walters, who as “the heavyweight employment practitioner on circuit” (Legal 500 2008) was ideally suited to deal with the inevitable difficulties this area poses.

Jonathan Walters comments on the latest news from the Employment circuit.

Ryan Amesbury examines Smith v Northamptonshire County Council [2009] UKHL 27 in which the House of Lords defines ‘equipment provided for use at work’. This follows an injury to a council care worker caused by a defective ramp at a wheel-chair user’s home which had been installed by the NHS and inspected by the council.

Robert examines the effect of the Limitation Act 1980 in relation to industrial disease cases and the challenge of identifying a person’s date of knowledge from which limitation should run. He reviews recent case law associated with establishing the ‘Date of Constructive Knowledge’ and the ‘Burden of Proof’.

Mona Bayoumi reviews the case of Carol Walton v Joanne Kirk [2009] EWHC 703 QB and examines the circumstances in which exaggerating claims may potentially lead to contempt proceedings. In this case, the defendant’s insurers, whilst not disputing liability, suspected that the claimant was exaggerating the severity of her injuries, and undertook further investigations...

Rebecca Mansell reviews recent Employment Cases.

Jonathan Walters rounds up recent Employment news.

Contributory Negligence in Road Traffic Accidents: The Importance of Medical Evidence: Smith v Finch [2009] EW 8C53 (QB)

Richard reviews some recent Personal Injury Cases to Note

Anthony Vines takes a look at a selection of this month's most interesting comments and queries on the subject of Employment Law.

The Employment Equality (Religion or Belief) Regulations 2003 (“the regulations”) were made under the European Communities Act 1972 in order to implement in domestic law the UK’s obligations under the Equal Treatment in Employment Directive 2000/78/EC. The regulations are broadly similar to existing discrimination legislation, offering protection in the employment arena for those who hold a particular “religion or belief”.

Coleman v Attridge Law On the 27th November 2008 the Employment Tribunal announced that it will read UK law consistently with European law to give protection to Sharon Coleman (and others in similar circumstances) with immediate effect and retrospectively to 1st October 2004 the date on which the amended Disability Discrimination Act came into force. This is undoubtedly an important decision and one which is likely to have a number of significant consequences for employers. It does not, however, go as far as some have suggested.