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Individuals can feel almost powerless when faced with the might of large corporations but, with the right legal advice, that is very far from being so. In a case on point, a judge ruled that an international airline had no right to charge a passenger almost £1,000 for a fresh ticket merely because the original contained a spelling mistake. Six days before he and his wife were due to fly to Canada, the passenger noticed that his wife's name was misspelt on her ticket. After contacting the airline, he was...

The VAT regime is far from straightforward and anyone going into business on their own account should take professional tax advice at the outset. In a striking case on point, a driving instructor who was recovering from a life-threatening bout of COVID-19 had reason to regret his ignorance of the law. The man had initially worked in the so-called gig economy as a franchisee courier for a logistics company. He was self-employed but the company arranged for him to be registered for VAT so that he could reclaim tax paid...

The much-criticised practice of some landlords and their agents of excluding those in receipt of state benefits from obtaining private rented accommodation has been effectively outlawed by a judge's ruling on the basis that it amounts to indirect disability discrimination. The case concerned an energetic and determined young man who wished to provide for his large family but who suffered from physical and mental disabilities, including an emotionally unstable personality disorder. He and his wife received state benefits, including housing benefit, which totalled over £2,400 a month. Living with a...

Cross-border child abduction is an all too frequent result of broken relationships but it is also unspeakably cruel and English judges take their international treaty obligations to stamp it out very seriously. The High Court powerfully made that point in ordering the return of two young children to their homeland in Italy. Although their parents met as students in the UK and owned property in this country, there was no dispute that the children were ordinarily resident in Italy. Following the breakdown of their parents' relationship, their mother removed them...