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Wednesday, August 18, 2010close
Recruitment agency succeeds in claim against BNP Paribas
SM&B's litigation team has successfully acted for specialist recruitment agency ITS City Limited in a breach of contract claim against the city bank BNP Paribas.
ITS City introduced a well-paid analyst to BNP Paribas and SM&B succeeded in recovering damages for non-payment of an introductory fee and our client's costs. The firm acted for ITS City on a Conditional Fee Agreement ensuring our client was able to gain access to justice. For more information on Conditional Fee Agreements click here.
Further information
Contact Gordon Clough
gordon.clough@smab.co.uk
020 3206 2700
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Monday, August 16, 2010close
Judicial Review challenge to the coalition government’s immigration cap
SM&B's Immigration department has today initiated Judicial Review proceedings challenging the legality of the coalition government's much publicised immigration cap on sponsored skilled non-EEA national workers and highly skilled non-EEA migrants.
The challenge follows SM&B's recent landmark victory in the Court of Appeal in the case of Pankina which ruled that the Secretary of State's Points Based System was partially unlawful.
Shahram Taghavi, who is an employed barrister and head of SM&B's immigration department, is instructed in the case as both the fee earner and junior counsel in the case.
Further information
Contact Shahram Taghavi
immigration.enquiry@smab.co.uk
020 3206 2700
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Wednesday, August 04, 2010close
SM&B act to enforce solicitor’s undertaking
The firm's commercial litigation team has succesfully taken action on behalf of NVA Management Limited to enforce a solicitor's undertaking.
NVA Management is a music, football and entertainment management consultancy and the undertaking related to the launch event for a Premiership footballer's charitable foundation. The case has settled in our client's favour with the defendant agreeing to pay our client's costs.
Further information
Contact Gordon Clough
gordon.clough@smab.co.uk
020 3206 2700
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Thursday, July 29, 2010close
Employment team success in Celebi appeal to the Employment Appeal Tribunal
Laura Celebi, represented by SM&B's employment team, has been successful in her appeal to the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT). In its judgment, handed down on 29 July 2010, the EAT decided that her former employer Compass Group UK & Ireland Ltd had unfairly dismissed her.
The EAT (HHJ McMullen QC, Mr Ezekiel and Baroness Drake) allowed the appeal on the basis that an employee must be told in unequivocal terms that she was charged with theft before an individual can be dismissed fairly.
The EAT further decided that the employer has a duty to state the reason for possible termination in clear terms. It was not sufficient just to tell the employee that she was responsible for the loss of the money in question, as the Respondent had argued.
The EAT has ordered that the matter be remitted to the Employment Tribunal for remedy hearing in due course.
Further details will be provided once the transcript of the Judgment is available.
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Wednesday, July 28, 2010close
Double libel success for LSE teaching assistant Reza Pankhurst
Statements in Open Court were read out before Mr Justice Tugendhat at the High Court today marking the successful conclusion of libel claims against the Daily Mail and Evening Standard newspapers by our client, PhD student and former LSE teaching assistant, Reza Pankhurst.
Both newspapers have publicly apologised to Mr Pankhurst for printing allegations linking him to would-be suicide bomber, Omar Sharif, and have agreed to pay him substantial damages for libel and his legal costs.
Mr Pankhurst was represented by Razi Mireskandari and Lucy Moorman.
The full text of the Statements are available to download here:
Reza Pankhurst v. Evening Standard Limited
Reza Pankhurst v. Associated Newspapers Limited
Further information
Contact Lucy Moorman
lucy.moorman@smab.co.uk
020 3206 2700
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Monday, July 19, 2010close
Libel success for Mohammed George
Today at the High Court, the Daily Star Sunday newspaper joined in a Statement in Open Court in which it apologised to our client, Mohammed George, for libellous allegations published in February 2010 in an article about the EastEnders 25th anniversary party.
Mr Justice Tugendhat heard that the newspaper had accused Mr George of being drunk and physially agressive at the party and of threatening BBC production staff. The newspaper admitted that these allegations. which were extremely upsetting and embarrassing for Mr George, were entirely untrue.
The Daily Star Sunday, which is owned by Express Newspapers, also agreed to pay Mr George libel damages and his legal costs.
Mr George was represented by Razi Mireskandari and Lucy Moorman.
In April 2009, Mr George, again represented by SM&B, was awarded £75,000 libel damages and his legal costs against The Sun after it published false allegations that he had beaten up his girlfriend. He also recovered apologies, libel damages and legal costs from a number of other newspapers which published similar defamatory allegations.
The full text of the Statement in Open Court can be downloaded here:
Mohammed George v. Express Newspapers
Further information
Contact Lucy Moorman
lucy.moorman@smab.co.uk
020 3206 2700
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Monday, July 12, 2010close
Court of Appeal refers appeal to the Court of Justice of the European Union
The Court of Appeal (The Master of the Rolls, Laws and Sullivan LJJ) has today made reference to the Court of Justice of the European Union in the appeal of NS. The reference seeks a much needed clarification on the EU law and its interrelationship with fundamental human rights. SM&B's head of immigration Shahram Taghavi along with Simon Cox of Doughty Street Chambers represent Amnesty International and the AIRE Centre who are the first interveners in the proceedings. Other interveners include the United Nations High Commissioner and the Equality and Human Rights Commissioner.
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Thursday, June 24, 2010close
Court of Appeal hear Jane Clift libel appeal
The hearing of the appeal in the case of Jane Clift against Slough Borough Council was concluded today.
Lord Justices Ward, Thomas and Richards heard submissions from Edward Faulks QC for the Appellant, Slough Borough Council, and Hugh Tomlinson QC for the Respondent, Jane Clift over two days.
Jane Clift, represented by SM&B, successfully sued Slough Borough Council and its "Head of Public Protection" for libel after she was placed on the Council's "Violent Persons Register" with a risk rating of "medium".
Ms Clift's ordeal began when she witnessed anti-social behaviour in a public park. She reported the matter to the Council but was extremely dissatisfied with the response to her call to the Council and subsequently complained. Describing her call to the Council in her letter of complaint, she wrote,
"I felt so affronted and so filled with anger that I am certain I would have physically attacked her if she had been anywhere near me. I truly am not of that nature and so, surely, this should act as a wake up call to the borough as to the capacity she has for offending people."
She repeated this sentiment in a later interview, although the idiomatic "I could have killed her"-type expression remained in the past tense. For this, she was placed on the Violent Persons Register for 18 months. The Register was published to a large number of individuals within and outside the Council. The Council's conduct had such a serious impact on Ms Clift that she ultimately left the Slough area.
Ms Clift pursued libel proceedings against the Council in person. She came to SM&B for assistance ten days before the trial in the High Court, before a jury, was due to start. Lucy Moorman and Stephen Shotnes of our Dispute Resolution and Litigation team agreed to act on a Conditional Fee Agreement. Leading Counsel, Hugh Tomlinson QC, and Junior Counsel, Christina Michalos, agreed to act on the same basis.
At trial, the jury found in Ms Clift's favour and awarded her libel damages in the sum of £12,000 (as reported in the Daily Mail and on the BBC).
The Defendants are appealing the ruling given by Mr Justice Tugendhat on the issue of qualified privilege and its relationship with the public law duties of public authorities, in particular the duty imposed by section 6 of the Human Rights Act 1998 to act compatibly with Convention rights especially Article 8. SM&B and Counsel continue to act for Ms Clift under CFA agreements.
Judgment is expected in October 2010.
Further information
Contact Lucy Moorman
lucy.moorman@smab.co.uk
020 3206 2700
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Thursday, June 24, 2010close
Supreme Court grant SM&B's public law department permission to intervene
The Supreme Court has granted SM&B's public law department permission to intervene in an appeal involving EU freedom of movement laws, discrimination and UK state pension credit. The intervener is represented by Shahram Taghavi (counsel are Richard Drabble QC and Charles Banner of Landmark Chambers). The appeal is listed for hearing in late 2010.
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Wednesday, June 23, 2010close
SM&B's immigration team wins first Court of Appeal litigation on the Points-Based system
Today the Court of Appeal unanimously dismissed the Secretary of State for the Home Department's appeal against SM&B's successful appeal to the Asylum & Immigration Appeal Tribunal in the case of Anastasia Pankina.
The Tribunal had held that the Secretary of State had failed to place significant parts of the Points-Based System requirements, found in the UK Border Agency's Guidance documents, before Parliament as required by the Immigration Act 1971. The appeal was said by Lord Justice Sedley to raise issues of "constitutional importance".
Ms Pankina was represented before the Tribunal by the head of SM&B's immigration department, Shahram Taghavi. Shahram was lead by Michael Fordham QC of Blackstone Chambers in the Court of Appeal.
The case will have profound implications on all Tier 1 and Tier 2 cases which rely on the UK Border Agency's "Guidance" documents and may result in the Secretary of State making significant amendments to the Immigration Rules.
This case has now been reported in the Times Law Reports, 20 July 2010.
Further information
Contact Shahram Taghavi
immigration.enquiry@smab.co.uk
020 3206 2700
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Wednesday, June 16, 2010close
Charity wins Advertising Standards Authority “sponsor a child” ruling
SM&B's Dispute Resolution team successfully assisted the international development organisation Plan International (UK) in winning a landmark decision published today by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA).
The ASA had received a complaint that a TV commercial run by Plan for its "sponsor a child" scheme misleadingly implied donors' money would go directly to individual children rather than to helping children and communities worldwide.
The ASA investigations team initally recommended upholding the complaint: any charity that runs a sponsorship scheme would have fallen foul of the decision if their sponsor's donations do not go solely and directly to assisting their sponsored child, even though to do so would cause jealousy and unfairness and would not provide the education, healthcare and water that the sponsored children so desperately need.
The team at SM&B, led by managing partner Razi Mireskandari and solicitor Gordon Clough, worked with Plan to submit a dossier of evidence, backed by a number of other leading charities, showing that the proposed ruling would have a substantial detrimental effect on the income generated by the many charities that run both child sponsorship and similar animal sponsorship schemes.
Having considered the submissions, the ASA Council took the unusal step of overturning the investigations team's recommendation and found in favour of Plan. The Council accepted Plan's argument that viewers would understand "child sponsorship" to mean a personal relationship with an individual child who was benefitting from the charity's funding in his or her community and concluded that the ad was therefore unlikely to mislead.
Razi Mireskandari the partner who led the team advising Plan, comments: "If the ASA had upheld the complaint, it would have harmed the reputation and income of child sponsorship charities in the UK, which raise more than £115 million for children in the developing world each year. Brand reputation is of paramount importance and it was a real pleasure in this case to help an organisation which has such fantastic charitable aims."
The full ruling can be found on the ASA website [ click here].
Update: Plan's successful action has been put into context by the ASA's subsequent decision to uphold a complaint that an advert for the charity The Society for the Protection of Animals was misleading [ click here].
Further information
Contact Gordon Clough
gordon.clough@smab.co.uk
020 3206 2700
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Saturday, May 22, 2010close
UK theatrical release of Noel Clarke's film "4321"
Noel Clarke's film "4321", starring Noel Clarke, Emma Roberts, Ophelia Lovibond, Tamsin Egerton, Shanika Warren-Markland and Michelle Ryan, has its UK theatrical release today.
Razwana Akram, Simon Goldberg and James Greenslade of our film and TV team acted for the production company, 4321 Ltd, and advised on all production and finance matters.
The film is being released in the UK by The Works.
Further information
Contact James Greenslade
james.greenslade@smab.co.uk
020 3206 2700
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Friday, May 21, 2010close
Zoe Margolis receives libel damages and statement in open court
Zoe Margolis, the well-known writer, feminist and author of the extremely popular and award-winning internet blog, "Girl with a one-track mind" has recovered substantial libel damages from the Independent on Sunday newspaper.
Today, in the High Court before Mr Justice Eady, Lucy Moorman read an agreed statement in open court and the newspaper apologised for the damage it had caused to Zoe by publishing a headline which falsely described her as a former "hooker".
As well as her writing, Zoe is an ambassador for the leading young people's sexual health charity, Brook, and a regular commentator in the media on issues relating to feminism, sex, e-business and the internet. The newspaper's mistake caused her immense distress and embarrasment, particularly as the erroneous headline featured in the internet link to the article and, in that form, was published widely on the internet.
Zoe contacted our dispute resolution and litigation team very soon after the defamatory publication. We agreed to act on a CFA and Zoe took out ATE insurance to protect herself against the risk of any adverse costs orders against her.
Represented by libel specialists Louis Charalambous and Lucy Moorman, we achieved a significant settlement, including substantial damages and agreed wording of a statement in open court, within eight weeks of instruction.
A formal, public statement in open court was extremely important to Zoe. We are delighted that through today's hearing in the High Court, and the recovery of libel damages, she has been able to put right the injury to her reputation.
Additional note: Zoe has since written about her case and the importance to her of being able to obtain a CFA and ATE insurance: see her article in the Guardian.
Further information
Contact Lucy Moorman
lucy.moorman@smab.co.uk
020 3206 2700
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Thursday, May 06, 2010close
Permission to appeal granted in immigration test case on marriage age
The Court of Appeal has granted SM&B's immigration department permission to appeal in a test case involving the recent raising of marriage age in immigration cases from 18 to 21.
Shahram Taghavi, SM&B's head of immigration and joint head of Public Law, acts in the case and also appears as junior counsel along with Raza Husain QC of Matrix Chambers. The appeal raises issues that have a direct impact upon both personal and business immigration.
Further information
Contact Shahram Taghavi
immigration.enquiry@smab.co.uk
020 3206 2700
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Wednesday, February 10, 2010close
"Landmark" victory in the Court of Appeal involving the right of Hindus to have open air funeral pyres.
The Court of Appeal, presided by the Master of the Rolls, today ruled in favour of open air funeral pyres. In a judgment that has been hailed as a "landmark" decision, the Court of Appeal has ruled that UK law permits Hindus to have open air pyres if they so wish. Shahram Taghavi, joint-head of Simons Muirhead & Burton's public law department, acted for the Alice Barker Welfare & Wildlife Trust, a secular intervener that sought to ensure that the Court recognised the right of all British nationals (whatever their faith) to have their religious beliefs protected by the European Convention of Human Rights.
In a statement released today Shahram Taghavi said:
"Simons Muirhead & Burton are delighted with this decision. Civilised societies do not simply tolerate minority religious beliefs, but actively protect those beliefs when they need protection. The Court of Appeal has paved the way for Hindus (and others) to have their dying wishes respected. Before the Court Appeal there was no evidence of substance to support the Secretary of State for Justice's assertions that such practices would be contrary to health and safety, or that they would offend the general public. Of course if the public is not fully informed as to how such open air pyres will be carried out, they may naturally imagine the worst. However, anyone reading the objective evidence would have seen that these practices are safe and non-intrusive."
Further information
Contact Shahram Taghavi
immigration.enquiry@smab.co.uk
020 3206 2700
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Friday, January 08, 2010close
UK theatrical release of "Sex & drugs & rock & roll"
The film "Sex & drugs & rock & roll", featuring Andy Serkis as Ian Dury, had its UK theatrical release today.
James Greenslade, Razwana Akram and Simon Goldberg of SM&B's Film and TV team advised the Prescience production partnerships, a Prescience EIS company and the Aegis Film Fund on their investment in the film including the complex tax-driven structuring of the various financings and the interparty arrangements with UK Film Council, Lip Sync Productions, Odyssey Entertainment and Film Finances.
Prescience Film Finance is a long standing client of the firm and this is one of a number of films on which SM&B has advised them.
Further information
Contact James Greenslade
james.greenslade@smab.co.uk
020 3206 2700