The legal scene
Supermarket equal pay claims The battle being fought by women
continue selling weapons to Saudi Arabia, which is engaged in the civil war in Yemen. The Court of Appeal ruled the continuation of arms sales, including Typhoon jets and precision-guided bombs, to be unlawful, although judges said that licences should be reviewed but not immediately suspended. The ruling is a blow to the UK arms industry, which sells 40% of its exports to Saudi Arabia. According to the UN, Saudi Arabia has been involved in serious human rights violations during its conduct of the war, including the deliberate targeting of Yemeni civilians. New precedent set for vulnerable renters Birmingham City Council was ordered by the Supreme Court to change its decision to declare a single mother of four “intentionally homeless” because she could not afford to pay her rent. The unanimous ruling in June 2019 creates an important precedent which expands the housing responsibilities of local authorities. The judgment also highlights how the Legal Aid Agency repeatedly refused to support the woman’s appeal even though she was in immediate danger of being evicted onto the street.
supermarket employees to secure equal pay with their male colleagues is creating shockwaves in employment law. Law firm Leigh Day is representing tens of thousands of store-based workers at the ‘big four’ supermarkets – Tesco, Morrisons, Sainsbury’s and Asda – as they fight in the courts to be paid equally to their warehouse- based colleagues. Women make up most store staff, while men make up the majority of warehouse workers. The supermarkets have tried to block the claims, in some cases on trivial technicalities, but have so far failed. The battle continues and if they eventually lose, supermarkets could find themselves liable for billions of pounds’ worth of claims from unfairly paid employees. Anonymity for sex offence suspects? Singer Sir Cliff Richard and others are calling for a “re-balancing of the legal system” to ban the media from reporting the names of people accused of sex offences before they are charged. The BBC filmed a police raid of Richard’s home on suspicion of sexual assault, but he was never arrested and successfully sued the corporation for breach of privacy. However, MP and barrister Harriet Harman has pointed out that the law already bans police from naming crime suspects “save in exceptional circumstances where there is a legitimate policing purpose to do so.” Harman argues that the focus should be on ensuring that the police adhere to the existing guidelines, which officers clearly failed to do when investigating Richard. Major cases Here is a minuscule sample of the many important and fascinating cases heard in UK courts in 2019. UK arms sales to Saudi Arabia In June 2019 campaigners won a legal challenge to the government’s decision to
Free speech campaigners welcome libel ruling
It might seem strange to see free speech advocates celebrating two newspapers losing a libel appeal in the Supreme Court, but that is exactly what happened earlier this year when French aerospace engineer Bruno Lachaux won his case against the Independent and the Evening Standard , both owned by oligarch Evgeny Lebedev. The newspapers had libelled Lachaux while reporting on his lengthy divorce battle with ex-wife Afsana Lachaux. The case was a major test of libel laws in England and Wales, and although Lachaux won damages, free speech campaigners welcomed the outcome because it established that claimants must now prove “serious harm” to their reputations to bring a successful libel case.
18
THE LAWCAREERS.NET HANDBOOK
Made with FlippingBook - professional solution for displaying marketing and sales documents online