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Many people think that for a libel to occur, the statement made has to be both false and made in public, but in fact that is not so, as a recent libel case confirms. The libellous comments were made by a care worker at a hospital about a colleague in an internal email sent to the HR manager and another senior manager. The High Court agreed that the accusations were false and had caused serious harm to the man who was the subject of the emails. It awarded him more than...

Anyone tempted to participate in a tax avoidance scheme would be wise to take note of one case in which a businessman complained in vain that he had been subject to HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) inquiries for almost seven years, with no end in sight. The inquiries concerned two tax returns that the man had filed in 2010. He had disclosed at the outset his involvement in a tax avoidance scheme that involved the use of an Isle of Man partnership to claim exemption from UK tax. He had...

Home ownership is generally regarded as providing safety and long-term security, but this is not always the case as properties can be compulsorily purchased by public authorities to make way for socially beneficial developments. Any householders affected are entitled to be compensated at the full market rate, although in a recent case it took a court appearance to ensure this. The case concerned a maisonette that was on the ground and first floors of a tower block that was built in the so-called 'brutalist' style in the 1970s. The block...

When you appoint a solicitor to be the executor of your will, you can be assured that they will understand their duties and can be relied upon to comply with them. However, as a High Court case showed, the same sadly cannot always be said of friends or family members who are chosen to perform the role. The case concerned a woman who died in her 70s, leaving an estate valued at more than £240,000 that was left in equal shares to a friend and a neighbour. Her will appointed...