This Week in the Supreme Court – w/c 10th July 2023 – UKSCBlog

Hearings in the Supreme Court are now shown live on the Court’s website.

On Wednesday 12th July the Court will hand-down two judgments:

  • Philipp v Barclays Bank UK PLC [2023] UKSC 25. The Court will determine three questions, (1) Does the Quincecare duty have any application in a case where the relevant payment instruction was not issued to the bank by an agent of the bank’s customer? (2) If not, should either (i) the Quincecare duty be extended so as to include the obligations contended for by Mrs Philipp in relation to authorized push payment fraud, or (ii) the law recognizes or imposes such obligations on a paying bank as incidents of its duty to exercise reasonable skill and care in and about executing an instruction? (3) Should the Court determine issues 1 and/or 2 above on a summary judgment and/or strike-out application?
  • McCulloch and others v Forth Valley Health Board (Scotland) [2023] UKSC 26. In Montgomery v Lanarkshire Health Board [2015] UKSC 11, the Supreme Court held that a doctor “is under a duty to take reasonable care to ensure that the patient is aware of any material risks involved in any recommended treatment, and of any reasonable alternative or variant treatments.” In this appeal, the Supreme Court is asked to decide what test should be applied when assessing whether an alternative treatment is reasonable and requires to be discussed with the patient. More specifically, did the doctor in this case fall below the required standard of reasonable care by failing to make a patient aware of an alternative treatment in a situation where the doctor’s opinion was that the alternative treatment was not reasonable and that opinion was supported by a responsible body of medical opinion? It is also asked whether the courts below error in their approach to the issue of causation.

The hand-down will begin at 9:45am in Courtroom 1.

From Wednesday 12th – Thursday 13thth July the Court will hear two cases:

  • Target Group Ltd v Commissioners for His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs, on appeal from [2021] EWCA Civ 1043. The Court will consider whether outsourced loan administration services supplied by Target are standard rated supplies for VAT purposes, or if they fall under the “financial services exemption” under article 135(1)(d) of the Principal VAT Directive, implemented in the Value Added Tax Act 1994 (VATA). The hearing will begin at 10:30am in Courtroom 1.
  • Byers and others v Saudi National Bank, on appeal from [2022] EWCA Civ 43. The Court will consider whether a claim in knowing receipt requires a claimant to prove a continuing proprietary interest in the transferred property to the defendant in breach of trust, in addition to knowledge on the part of the defendant so as to render his receipt unconscionable. The hearing will begin at 10:30am in Courtroom 2.

The following Supreme Court judgments remain outstanding: (As of 07/07/23)

  • East of England Ambulance Service NHS Trust v Flowers and Ors, heard 22nd June 2021
  • Canada Square Operations Ltd v Potter, heard 14th June 2022
  • Chief Constable of the Police Service of Northern Ireland and another v Agnew and others (Northern Ireland), heard 14th-15th December 2022
  • Smith and another v Royal Bank of Scotland, heard 12th January 2023
  • Republic of Mozambique (acting through its Attorney General) v Privinvest Shipbuilding SAL (Holding) and othersheard 24-25th January 2023
  • R (PACCAR Inc and others) v Competition Appeal Tribunal and othersheard 16th February 2023.
  • Lifestyle Equities CV and another v Ahmed and anotherheard 20th February 2023
  • Thaler v Comptroller-General of Patents, Designs and Trade Marks, heard 2nd March 2023
  • The Manchester Ship Canal Company Ltd v United Utilites Water Ltd No 2heard 6th March 2023
  • R (on the application of Palmer) v Northern Derbyshire Magistrates Court and anotherheard 8th March 2023
  • Secretary of State for Transport v Curzon Park Ltd and others, heard 19th April 2023
  • Independent Workers Union of Great Britain v Central Arbitration Committee and anotherheard 25th April 2023
  • R (on the application of Worcestershire County Council) v Secretary of State for Health and Social Careheard 27th April 2023
  • R (on the application of Imam) v London Borough of Croydonheard 3rd May 2023
  • Polmear and another v Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust, heard 15th May 2023.
  • R (on the application of Afzal) v Secretary of State for the Home Departmentheard 7th June 2023.
  • Herculito Maritime Ltd and others v Gunvor International BV and others, heard 14th June 2023.
  • Zubaydah v Foreign and Commonwealth Office and others, heard 14th June 2023.
  • TUI Ltd v Griffiths, heard 21st June 2023.
  • R (on the application of Finch on behalf of the Weald Action Group) v Surrey County Council and others, heard 21st June 2023.
  • Commissioners for His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs v Professional Game Match Officials Ltdheard 26th June 2023.
  • SkyKick UK Ltd and another v Sky Ltd and others, heard 28th June 2023.
  • Skatteforvaltningen (the Danish Customs and Tax Administration) v Solo Capital Partners LLP (in special administration) and othersheard 5th July 2023.
  • Target Group Ltd v Commissioners for His Majesty’s Revenue and Customsheard 12th July 2023.
  • Byers and others v Saudi National Bankheard 12th July 2023.