Background: In 1999, Yehuda Talmon, acting as trustee for a group of purchasers, agreed with the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem to acquire leasehold rights in part of a planned residential project on Patriarchate-owned land. The agreement contemplated 1,000 square meters of residential space to be built under a separate combination agreement with a developer. It…
Held: Justice Gila Canfy-Steinitz denied permission to appeal without requesting a response and also denied interim relief on appeal. The decisive procedural defect was Talmon’s failure to join the purchasing company to his application for temporary relief. The requested orders would directly affect that company’s contractual and property interests, yet it had received no opportunity to be heard. Although Talmon did…
Background: Cooke, Young & Keidan LLP (CYK) sued former clients Laurence Davis and John Baker for £194,137.72 in solicitors’ fees arising from CYK’s work on proceedings against Irish Bank Resolution Corporation Limited. Davis and Baker counterclaimed for professional negligence, valuing their alleged lost opportunity to pursue those earlier proceedings at about £20 million.
Held: HHJ Johns KC, sitting as a High Court judge, struck out Baker’s counterclaim. It was a property-based cause of action that vested in the Official Receiver under the Insolvency Act 1986, rather than a personal claim retained by Baker. The pleaded case and evidence disclosed no arguable two-person partnership between Baker and Davis that owned the counterclaim; the partnership previously…
Background: The parties, dual U.S. and Sudanese citizens, married in Sudan in 2001 and later lived in North Carolina, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Fargo. After the wife sought and received a domestic violence protection order in 2024, she filed for divorce in Cass County.
Held: The North Dakota Supreme Court held that the district court had subject matter jurisdiction over the divorce action. Whether to recognize the Sudanese divorce certificate under international comity was a discretionary recognition question, not a limit on the court's jurisdiction.
Background: Suzanne Fuchs slipped on red-tinged oily liquid in an aisle of a Coles supermarket at Bondi Junction on 1 November 2020. She suffered an avulsion tear of her right hamstring tendon and a minor traction injury to the sciatic nerve, underwent several related procedures, and continued to experience pain and functional restrictions.
Held: Sirtes J assessed Fuchs's damages at $1,008,195 before the agreed reduction. The Court awarded $297,480 for non-economic loss, $65,000 for past out-of-pocket expenses, $55,772 for future out-of-pocket expenses, $45,000 for past economic loss, $350,000 for future diminution of earning capacity, $67,123 for past care, and $127,820 for future care.
Background: A motorist sued Consolidated Chassis Management LLC, Chicago-Ohio Valley Consolidated Chassis Pool LLC, trucking company Midvest Transport Corporation, and Midvest driver Bakari Lambert over a 2016 Illinois traffic accident. Northland Insurance Company insured all defendants under a commercial policy with a $1 million limit and appointed separate attorneys to represent Consolidated and the Midvest defendants.
Held: The Seventh Circuit reversed the judgment for Consolidated. The majority held that Illinois law recognizes a narrow exception to an insurer’s contractual right to control the defense when an actual, serious conflict exists between the insurer and its insured. Adversity among insured codefendants, standing alone, does not trigger that exception. Northland had no incentive to favor one insured because its…
Background: These seven consolidated appeals arose from four Oakland Circuit Court actions alleging that defects in sewage-disposal systems caused raw sewage and storm water to flood homes in Southfield, Royal Oak, Birmingham, and the Village of Beverly Hills. The actions named Oakland County, the George W. Kuhn Drainage District, the Oakland County Water Resources Commissioner, and…
Held: The Court of Appeals held that MCR 2.118(A)(1) permits a party to amend a complaint once as a matter of right at any time before, and through 14 days after, an adverse party serves a responsive pleading. The rule’s phrase “within 14 days after” establishes the deadline for amendment; it does not require the opposing party to serve a responsive…
Background: Health Canada commissioned an investigation into Dr. Alain Musende’s workplace conduct. After Quintet Consulting Corporation issued its final report on April 7, 2026, Health Canada accepted its findings and conclusions and advised Musende that a disciplinary process would begin.
Held: The Federal Court granted the Attorney General’s motion, struck the application for judicial review, and held that it was premature. Reading the application according to its essential character, the Court found that Musende was challenging an employment-related investigation, Health Canada’s acceptance of the resulting report, and the process leading toward possible discipline.
Background: Notorious B.I.G., LLC holds intellectual-property rights associated with the late Christopher Wallace. Wallace’s mother, Voletta Wallace, and his widow, Faith Evans, formed the Company in 2007. After Voletta Wallace died, her assets passed to the Voletta Wallace Revocable Trust, whose sole trustee is Wayne Barrow. Evans manages the Company and has declined to recognize the…
Held: Chancellor Kathaleen St. J. McCormick denied the renewed motion to stay. Barrow had accepted appointment as successor trustee in March 2025, and Pennsylvania law does not suspend a fiduciary’s authority merely because that authority is being challenged. If Christopher Jordan Wallace wanted to bar Barrow from acting for the Trust while the Pennsylvania matter proceeded, he had to seek that…
Background: Hadi Al-Faqir pleaded guilty to aiding an attempted aggravated infliction of serious bodily harm under sections 333, 335(a)(1)-(2), and 31 of Israel’s Penal Law, along with additional offenses involving aiding weapons offenses, firearm discharge, and property damage. His convictions arose from his participation with others in a shooting from a vehicle toward a restaurant. He…
Held: The Supreme Court unanimously granted leave to appeal, treated the application as an appeal, and allowed it. It held that Al-Faqir’s conviction for aiding an attempted offense under sections 333 and 335 is subject to the same exclusion from enhanced administrative release as the completed offense. The Prison Service’s original calculation of his release date was therefore reinstated.
Background: East Devon District Council granted prior approval for the proposed conversion of an agricultural building at Shoots Lane, Sheldon, Devon, to a guesthouse under Class R of the Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) (England) Order 2015. After Marie-Claire Di Mambro challenged that decision, the Council accepted that its officer’s report had not properly…
Held: HHJ Russen KC held that paragraph W(11)(c)’s deemed-consent rule did not apply. The Council had notified the developer within the 56-day period that prior approval was granted. Although that decision was later quashed and therefore had no continuing legal effect, neither the decision nor its timely notification could be treated as if it had never occurred. The quashing consequently did…
Background: A.M. appealed a Traill County juvenile court order terminating her parental rights to R.J., H.J., and A.J. She challenged the juvenile court’s finding that the children were in need of protection and its decision to terminate her parental rights.
Held: The North Dakota Supreme Court concluded that the juvenile court did not clearly err in finding the children were in need of protection. The Court applied clear-error review to the juvenile court’s factual findings.
Background: Vhari Johnstone sued South Western Sydney Local Health District over injuries she alleges resulted from the use of forceps during the 2020 delivery of her son at Bowral and District Hospital. She alleges negligence and breach of the Australian Consumer Law guarantee that services be rendered with due care and skill.
Held: Sirtes J extended the time for the plaintiff’s liability evidence, permitted her to rely on Dr Buist’s reports dated 18 March and 2 April 2026, and granted leave to file the proposed amended statement of claim. The amended pleading slightly recast and narrowed the liability case, while adding an allegation concerning failure to inspect and properly repair a tear.