Law Report: Case Summaries

The following notes of judgments were prepared by the reporters of the All England Law Reports.

Employment

Johnstone v BBC Enterprises Ltd; EAT (Wood J, Pres); 22 April 1993.

Failure to renew a fixed-term contract was 'dismissal' within the meaning of s 55 of the Employment Protection (Consolidation) Act 1978, and not 'action (short of dismissal)' within s 23(1).

Accordingly, the non-renewal could not found a complaint under s 24 of the Act, alleging action short of dismissal aimed at preventing or deterring the employee from, or penalising him for, trade union activities after he became an official of Beta (Broadcasting and Entertainment Trade Alliance).

M Westgate (Robin Thompson & Partners) for the employee; P Goulding (BBC Solicitor) for the BBC.

False imprisonment

Davidson v Chief Constable of North Wales Police & anr; CA (Sir Thomas Bingham MR, Staughton, Waite LJJ).

20 April 1993.

Where a store detective gave information to police officers, as a result of which the officers, in the exercise of their discretion, arrested a person for shoplifting, but that person was later released on being shown to be innocent, the store detective was not liable for false imprisonment.

Anthony Clover (Patrick Blackmore, Menai Bridge) for the appellant; Andrew W Lewis (Ford & Warren, Leeds) for the respondent.

Local government

R v Swansea City Council, ex p Elitestone Ltd; CA (Sir Thomas Bingham MR, Staughton, Mann LJJ); 5 May 1993.

The requirement that was laid down in s 100B of the Local Government Act 1972, that copies of the agenda for the meeting of a principal council and copies of any report for the meeting should be open to inspection by members of the public at least three clear days before the meeting, referred to days other than the day the documents were published and the day of the meeting, and excluded Saturday and Sunday.

James Thom (Moon Beever, for Holt Jones, Swansea) for the appellant; Clive Newberry QC (Sharpe Pritchard, for Roderic O Jones, Swansea) for the respondent.

Tax

Koenigsberger v Mellor (Inspector of Taxes); ChD (Lindsay J) 10 May 1993.

A non-working name at Lloyd's was not entitled to retirement annuity relief for premiums paid out of income received from Lloyd's syndicates. The income was not 'relevant earnings' within the definition of that term in s 623(2)(c) of the Income and Corporation Taxes Act 1988.

The taxpayer in person; Timothy Brennan (Inland Revenue Solicitor) for the Crown.

Sutherland & Partners v Gustar (Inspector of Taxes); ChD (Lindsay J); 7 May 1993.

One of a number of partners could not appeal by way of case stated against the determination of general commissioners contrary to the wishes of other partners.

A single partner, in circumstances where the partnership as a whole had initiated the appeal against assessment to tax, could not be described as 'the appellant' within the meaning of s 56 of the Taxes Management Act 1970.

Jeremy Woolf (Hempsons) for five of the partners; Dr Barnes in person; Launcelot Henderson (Inland Revenue Solicitor) for the Crown.

Road Traffic

Hayes v DPP; QBDC (Rose LJ, Waller J); 12 March 1993.

In following the procedures laid down by ss 7 and 8 of the Road Traffic Act 1988, where a driver had elected to replace a specimen of breath with one of blood or urine, a police officer was entitled to change his mind as to which, and it was not until a decision that the specimen should be one of blood had crystallised that it was necessary for the driver to be told of his right to object to giving a specimen of blood for medical reasons.

Nigel Ley, (Byrne, Frodsham and Co, Widnes) for the appellant; Edmund Lawson QC (CPS) for the DPP.