Home Office House Calls
We’ve recently become aware of a new tactic from the Home Office in checking up on people who are reliant on their family relationships for their legal status in the UK. Immigration Officers seem to be not only making house calls to make sure people live with who they say they do, but knocking on…
Implications of the Immigration Act 2014
Shortly before jetting off on their summer holidays, Parliament passed a new law, called the Immigration Act 2014, which aims to make it increasingly difficult to live in the UK without legal status. An understandable aim, but the way in which the Government has gone about it is perhaps less commendable. The onus on keeping…
Law Society fears online LPAs could be open to abuse
The Law Society has raised concerns that the online service for lasting powers of attorney (LPA) could be open to cases of fraud and abuse. LPAs are well established documents that enable you to nominate someone in advance to look after your affairs should you become incapable of doing so yourself at some point in…
Naming Rights to Sports Stadiums: the key legal issues
Match Day ticket sales increasingly constitute a smaller part of a sports club’s income. Attracting commercial income is now a key priority. As such clubs are looking to sell naming rights to the very ground they use as a key income generation tool. Set out below is a note explaining what is likely to be…
Immigration Facts & Soundbites
Last week, Nick Clegg MP, the Deputy Prime Minister, made a speech on Immigration. This is a topic that is going to be at the forefront of the upcoming election. He set out his position on more effective immigration control as essentially being one of big, strong walls at the borders but with doors open…
Ison Harrison open 8th office in Chapel Allerton
Leeds Law firm Ison Harrison today announced the opening of a new office in the Chapel Allerton suburb of North East Leeds. The new office will be the firm’s eighth office in Leeds and builds upon its reputation for making legal service easily accessible to local people across the city… “We are extremely proud to…
Non-competition clauses – do they work?
Traditionally the Courts have been reluctant to enforce these types of clauses giving more preferential treatment to non-solicitation and non-dealing clauses. However the case of Merlin Financial Consultants Ltd V Cooper seems to show the Courts changing their stance particularly in circumstances where the covenants are contained in a business sale agreement and/or there is…
How to make a claim for medical negligence
Time limits It is important that that you speak to a solicitor as soon as possible as there are time limits which apply to pursuing a claim. Court Proceedings need to be issued within 3 years of the negligence or within 3 years of the date that you become aware of the negligence. In cases…
Ison Harrison act for alleged victims of a property development scheme in Northern Cyprus
The National Crime Agency –v– Robb If you have any questions concerning the Order please contact Jonathan Robson at jonathan.robson@isonharrison.co.uk
Private Family Law team complete Corporate Relay Challenge
The finishing time was 2:03:27 and the team was ranked respectably, 33rd out of 53 corporate team entrants. Members of the team competing in the race were Tahira Rahman, Pascale Adam, Ruth Flowers, Allen Bailey, Nathalie Mannion, Shaun Hulme. We are delighted to be supporting such a worthwhile local charity that makes such a significant…
Ison Harrison Solicitors are proud to be supporting the Leeds Children’s Charity Corporate Relay Challenge 2014
For well over 100 years, the Leeds Children’s Charity has been raising funds for disadvantaged children to provide free residential respite, enabling the children to have a holiday away from their worries at home. Children suffering from poverty, neglect, abuse, learning difficulties, illness or young carers themselves, get the chance to visit the seaside, make…
Redundancy offer to over-60s breached Age Regulations
The issue arose after two civil servants were offered a lower redundancy package than their younger colleagues. The employees were both over 60 and entitled to draw a full pension. On this basis, their employers offered them a redundancy package of just 6 months’ salary, whereas their younger counterparts were offered 21 months’. The two…
‘The Compensation Myth’ of work injuries
Insurers, Government and media have been quick to portray lawyers as fuelling a compensation culture. The joint APIL (Association of Personal Injury Lawyers) and TUC (Trades Union Congress) report highlights 10 myths around compensation claims and the workplace. Here is a snippet of the finding Claims are escalating out of control Claims against employers have…
Duty of Candour
Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt has announced radical changes in how the NHS will deal with medical accidents in England. Under a ‘duty of candour’ proposal healthcare providers must openly disclose when moderate or severe harm occurs as a result of a medical accident, provide an apology along with all relevant information such as medical records…
Footballer died of industrial disease
Jeff Astle, the former West Bromwich Albion footballer died 12 years ago and his widow Laraine is still waiting for answers from the FA. An inquest ruled that the footballer had an industrial disease, although may be better discribed as an occupational disease. Heading heavy leather balls over a number of years contributed to the…
Man wins victimisation claim over bad employment reference
The man worked for a car sales and repair company but was dismissed because he was over 65 years old. He began proceedings for unfair dismissal and age discrimination. He then went to an employment agency to find a new job. A director at the car company gave him a bad reference. The man believed…
Company’s confusion over the term ‘director’ proves costly
This can lead to confusion because genuine directors have specific duties in law which do not necessarily apply to employees acting in a managerial role. It is possible for managers to be seen as de facto directors – that is, they effectively become directors with all the associated duties because they exercise certain levels of…
£7.5m damages following RTA
We all dread it – the phone call – you know the one that changes your life forever. Kathy Fox received one of those in the early hours of 9th May 2009. A few hours later, she was rushing to the bedside of her 19 year old son, Chris, who had suffered a devastating brain…
The Mesothelioma Act
The Government today announced the level of compensation payments to be made to victims of the asbestos related disease mesothelioma. After much debate in the commons an average figure of £123,000 is to be awarded as to each mesothelioma sufferer or their dependents and whose employer’s liability insurer cannot be traced. Claims against this new…
Pre-Nuptial Agreements
At present, although such agreements are increasingly being taken into account by the divorce courts the terms are not always upheld. In each case, the court will consider all of the circumstances including the existence of any pre- or post-nuptial agreement but still retains the ability to depart from the terms of any such agreement…
Widow awarded £705,000 after contracting same disease as husband
Monica Haxton’s husband died from mesothelioma in 2009 after several years working near asbestos in his job as an electrician. Two years later, Mrs Haxton started to suffer from acute breathlessness just as her husband had done. She too was diagnosed with mesothelioma. It became apparent that she had been exposed to asbestos by hand…
Scrabble fails to stop Scramble in trademark dispute
Scrabble argued that the use of the word Scramble, and the presentation of the word in the game’s logo, with the ‘M’ turned on its side so as to look like a capital letter B, would cause game players to confuse it with their own name, and therefore assume the two games were associated. They…
Landlord receives £4.75m compensation for damage caused at flats
The damage occurred after a pressurised water system was installed throughout the building. The system enabled water to be pumped to the higher floors in the block, but could also produce an effect known as “water hammer” in which high pressure surges caused burst pipes. There were two such incidents in different sections of the…
Woman ‘cannot share’ ex-husband’s fortune 20 years after separation
The couple were married in 1985 and had two children, but divorced six years later. Their combined assets were divided between them, with the wife getting the family home and a property in France, and the husband paying annual child maintenance. However, the agreement was never made into an official court order. The husband then…
Medical Negligence in Leeds and Wakefield
Settlements for medical negligence cases in Leeds and Wakefield have cost nearly £45m. Figures released under the Freedom of Information Act have shown the extent of damages awarded for clinical negligence between 2010 to 2013. The hospitals treat 1.5m patients annually and are keen to stress the point. However there have been a number of…
Carbon Monoxide Poisoning
As winter bites we should be aware of the danger posed by carbon monoxide. Unfortunately there is a common misconception that smoke alarms will protect us from carbon monoxide poisoning and this is not the case. In the UK it is estimated that carbon monoxide poisoning accounts for 4000 people attend to attend A&E 400…
Standards of Care in GP Practices
Findings highlight the poor standard of care thousands of patients are forced to endure. The report looked at over 1000 practices, around 12% of UK surgeries, and found failings at 300 of these. In the most serious cases vaccines where found out of date, patients brought their own seats for extensive waiting room times along…
Divorces may be set to rise as economy recovers
The survey, carried out by accountancy firm Grant Thornton, found that eight out of 10 lawyers felt that the recession had led to married couples delaying divorce proceedings. The reason is thought to be that many couples simply couldn’t afford to separate because they were under too much financial pressure and uncertainty. Instead they chose…
Cash For Crash
Fraudulent groups have been targeting innocent motorists in ‘Cash for Crash’ schemes. It appears one of the most common types of scenarios is when a car full of ‘scammers’ suddenly stops at roundabouts and junctions ending with a vehicle ploughing into the back of them, with the passengers all making claims for whiplash injury. These…
Firm makes employee spend 12 months on garden leave
The issue arose when the employee said he was resigning after working for the company as an investment adviser for 14 years. During that time, he had built up a list of valuable contacts. The company feared that he would take those contacts to one of its competitors and invoked a clause in his contract…
Christmas Jumper Day
‘Tis the season to be jolly’, and since it’s now less than a month until that man with the white beard and his reindeer pals come pay us a visit, the Christmas jumpers are being pulled out of the bottom drawer for all to see. The festive fun will take place on December 16 where…
Comet Ison
Of course it is nothing to do with us but Comet Ison is finally providing a celestial show. The comet is a huge ball of ice and named Ison after the International Scientific Optical Network was discovered by two Russian scientists is making news from across the night skies. The heavenly body will accelerate to…
Personal Injury News
Jonathan Wearing issues this stark warning on the back of amendments to the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act. “It is clear that some personal injury departments are ignoring the changes, operating at a loss and as a consequence clients are starting to suffer. Locally we have seen well established firms like Walker…
Home Circumcisions present a significant risk
The secretary of the British Association of Paediatric Urologists has expressed concern that people with limited experience are carrying out home circumcisions. Felim Murphy stated “unfortunately children have died in the last number of years in Britain and Ireland from circumcision-related complications.” Although healthcare workers have to be registered with the Care Quality Commission before…
Ex Miner wins negligence claim against his former solicitor
Andrew Procter was successful in his claim for professional negligence and a judge awarded the West Yorkshire man over £5000 damages. Raley’s solicitors in Barnsley advised thousands of miners with compensation claims for industrial diseases such as noise induced hearing loss and in the case of Mr Procter Vibration White Finger. The condition Vibration White…
Patients going blind because of delays in treatment
Research found that clinics were over stretched and unable to cope. In a poll of 172 medical staff working in eye clinics, over 80% said their department had insufficient capacity to meet demand, with 37% believing patients are sometimes losing their sight unnecessarily because of delayed treatment, and 4% believe this to be a regular…
Action For Brain Injury Week 2104
The dates for the 2014 Action For Brain Injury Week have been disclosed. Make a note for your diary for the 12-18th May. Last year the focus of this successful campaign was targeted to GP’s, we wait on the emphasis of the 2014 campaign. With an estimated 200,000 people admitted for hospital treatment each year…
Victim of sexual harassment awarded £13,000 compensation
Elizabeth Cowhig worked for Digital Maintenance Ltd in Kirkby. She claimed that during her five months’ employment there, sales manager Owen Kennard would often approach her and rub her shoulders or kiss her on the forehead. On one occasion he slapped her on the bottom and said: “Sorry, I couldn’t resist that.” She said he…
Report on NHS England Maternity Services
A recent report by the National Audit Office has uncovered a number of facts about NHS maternity services in England The most concerning fact is that 1 in every 133 babies born die within days of birth or are still born. Although this figure has reduced from previous years it is higher than other areas…
Remember Remember the 5th November
Firework injuries are often the result of horseplay or defective fireworks. The most serious types of injury involve burns and eye injuries. Many councils run public displays and these tend to be, according to figures, safe. Fire services are particularly stretched at this time of year and need the general public to be sensible in…
Government seeks international collaboration to tackle dementia
Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt says there are currently 670,000 people suffering from various forms of dementia in the UK and this figure is set to double over the next 30 years. Mr Hunt said: “Dementia is far from a uniquely British problem – it is a world-wide challenge. Similar problems and pressures are being played…
Landmark Human Rights Decision in Supreme Court
Osborn (Appellant) v The Parole Board (Respondent) [2013] UKSC61 On 09 October 2013 the Supreme Court handed down judgment in relation to the above matter in which Ison Harrison represented Mr Osborn, the Appellant. Two separate matters on similar facts were also handed down at the same time, the cases having been heard together. Mr…
Buyers to be warned of mortgage ‘worst case scenarios’
It means lenders will have to show the maximum interest rate they have charged in the last 20 years. A statement from the European Parliament says: “Anyone signing up for a mortgage in the EU should receive comparable information about the products available, and understand the total cost and long-run financial consequences of taking out…
Pub manager compensated for depression caused by dismissal
The case involved a husband and wife who were employed together to manage a large pub. They lived on the premises with their four children. They worked there for just over a year when the employer became dissatisfied with their performance and dismissed them. A tribunal later ruled that the dismissals were unfair. The husband…
Are our medical records a commodity?
Are our medical records a commodity? GPs are being encouraged by the government to share medical records with so called ‘safe havens’ such as private health care providers and insurers but who will this benefit? Perhaps the simple answer is we just don’t know, however you can be sure that there is significant commercial advantage…
Sandwich bar employee awarded £47,500 after falling at work
She suffered several injuries including whiplash to her neck, damage to her ribs and blurred vision. The woman, who was 34 at the time of the accident, went down to the basement with an empty bread tray. The stairs were made of wood with rubber strips on the edges of the steps. However, some of…
Overtime payments ‘should count towards holiday pay’
The judgment brings the UK closer to EU law in relation to the Working Time Regulations. The employee at the centre of the case, Mr Neal, was contracted to work a 35-hour week made up of five seven-hour shifts. His terms also stated that he may have to work overtime when necessary. In practice, he…
Highest number of home buyers for four years
The biggest increases in activity came in the West Midlands and the North East, which were among the areas worst affected by the market crash. However, every area of the country saw significant growth. The RICS figures are based on buyer activity in July, when it says house prices rose across the country at their…
Deregulation Bill ‘to benefit office and shop based companies’
The main beneficiaries are expected to be office and shop based companies. The Bill will lead to the amendment or repeal of 182 pieces of legislation, with the aim of reducing the time and money spent by businesses on unnecessary admin and regulations. Some of the key changes are: The scrapping of health and safety…
House prices increasing ‘at fastest rate for three years’
The Halifax survey found that prices in the three months to the end of June were 2.1% higher than in the previous quarter and 3.7% higher than in the same period last year. Halifax spokesman Martin Ellis said the increases are the highest we’ve seen for three years. He said: “Activity has also improved in…