Human Rights Act cases on the increase and on unusual grounds

It is now 10 years since  the Human Rights Act came into force and data suggests that cases brought under the Aact are on the increase.

It seems that business has now realiosed that the Act can be applied to business law issues, including such areas as tax law, where there has been a 38% increase in cases where the Act is cited, generally as a defence. The research on this comes from the well known legal publisher Sweet & Maxwell.

Reported cases in the last year in which the Human Rights Act was part of the case rose a whopping 63% last year, now accounting for 9% of all reported human rights cases. Over a 10 year period there have been 5,107 reported human rights cases.

Some examples of business use of the Human Rights Act last year include :-

• Using privacy arguments to prevent the media from publishing stories that could potentially damage their corporate reputation.

• Asking the court for more time to prepare a case by arguing that access to justice would be hampered unless deadlines in the litigation process were extended.

Tax cases

The research by Sweet & Maxwell found that reported cases in which human rights arguments were used in tax cases involving HM Revenue and Customs was up 38% from 16 to 22, making up 6% of all reported cases.

HMRC has been pursuing a far more aggressive strategy against businesses which means it is now far less likely to accept a compromise and settle a tax claim.With the stakes raised, businesses are looking for any tool that may buy time or defeat HMRC.

A report by Opinium Research indicates an increasing trend for more complicated arrangements in wills and for contingency provisions involving setting up of trusts. This trend perhaps reflects the overall deterioration in family bonds and prospects of marriages.

The research found that around 1/3 of parents are reluctant to leave money to their married children  in case they get divorced and  their child’s spouse could end up with some of the assets in the event of a breakdown of the relationship.

It can be easy to forget that legal services in the modern era does not necessarily only mean advice given in a traditional way by solicitors. With the explosion of free information now available on the internet, many inidviduals and businesses will only use a solicitor for value added services or where the matter is complex such as a court case or major transaction. When it comes to sourcing a legal document there is a huge array ocomapnies out there that now offer lawyer drafted templates and documents at a fraction of the price of being charged an hourly rate, and so the market for legal services has become much more fragmented.

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