The court had held that a bank condition under which interest accrued on a liability regardless of what the court decided was an unfair contract term and not enforceable. The clause concerned a debt where the bank had started recovery proceeds through the courts. It decreed that interest continued accruing on the debt regardless of...Read More

Where two businesses had honestly concurrently used the same trade name, that prevented one business obtaining an injunction against the other. The Companies Act 1985 thus upheld the decision that two companies may use the term “Budweiser” in relation to their beer. Anheuser-Busch Inc v Budejovicky Budvar Narodni Podnik. CA. The Times 14 March 2000....Read More

The court has power to make a declaration of non-liability in a transnational commercial dispute. It should exercise that power if it serves the aims of justice. This principle was established even though it was not applied in the test case. The case concerned liability for an accident at Brussels Airport in 1998 involving an...Read More

A partnership’s liability for the actions of a partner are not necessarily the same as that of an employer’s vicarious liability for his employees. The case concerned a punch-up between two solicitors in the precincts of the court. The issue was whether a claim could be brought against the solicitor’s partnership rather than just against...Read More

Experience in five pilot studies show that a person in an employment zone is twice as likely to find and keep a job than if not in a zone. From 3 April 2000, 15 full employment zones will be established. The first ones are in Birmingham, Brent, Brighton, Caerphilly, Doncaster, Glasgow City, Haringey, Liverpool and...Read More

A recent case has held that it is not necessary for an employer to know about a disability for a dismissal to be discriminatory. This case has serious implications for employers. The employee had worked for his company since 1979. In May 1996 he went sick, though the diagnosis and prognosis of his condition were...Read More

A European case has held that a woman who was refused a job because of a legal bar on her doing it, was unfairly discriminated against on the ground of pregnancy, and not fairly discriminated against on grounds of legal bar. The case is a German one heard by the European Court of Justice. As...Read More

From 1 February 2000, a local authority no longer need consider how many days a child has spent performing in the previous year when considering a licence allowing a hild to take part in a public performance. The Children (Performances) Amendment Regulations SI 2000 No 10 [2000]Read More

The single currency interest rate was increased by another quarter point to 3.5% in 2000. In the same week, the US Federal Reserve increased interest rates by a quarter point to 6%. In the UK, earnings growth for the year was reported at 5.9%. This is the highest level since July 1992. It has led...Read More

The volatility of the FT-SE 100 index in March 2000, now that it includes many high technology companies, was demonstrated this month when it fell 153.6 points in one day to 6445.2. Vodafone and BT accounted for one third of this fall. The cause of the fall was attributed to fears of possible interest rate...Read More