Tag Archives: Court of Appeal

Serving a prison sentence for contempt of court: Luba Macpherson

The Court of Appeal was (again) displaying to others who might be tempted to flout court orders that it would not hesitate to exact punishment.

Sentencing in contempt proceedings: Punishment and coercion in a case before Lieven J

By Celia Kitzinger, 14th August 2025 A mother who refused to obey court orders was sentenced to 28 days in prison, and her pre-teenage daughter was to be taken into foster care, in a case I watched in the Family Court on 11th August 2025. The judge, Mrs Justice Lieven, ordered the local authority toContinue reading “Sentencing in contempt proceedings: Punishment and coercion in a case before Lieven J”

Strongly held beliefs do not equate to lack of litigation capacity: Judgment concerning Luba Macpherson’s appeal against committal to prison

By Amanda Hill, 24th June 2024 “But in America, in my home, they are persecuting people for using their right to free speech and voicing their dissent. This is happening now.” (Bruce Springsteen, during his concert at Lille, Saturday 24 May 2025[1]) As well as saying people are persecuted for using their right to freeContinue reading “Strongly held beliefs do not equate to lack of litigation capacity: Judgment concerning Luba Macpherson’s appeal against committal to prison”

Application to appeal against judgment authorising withdrawal of life-sustaining treatment: Re XY

By Jenny Kitzinger, 4th December 2024 The Court of Appeal hearing I observed on the 26th November 2024 concerned an application for permission to appeal a Court of Protection judgment.  I’d watched the original Court of Protection hearing (COP 20002405) in early November and blogged about it (“Withdrawing life-sustaining treatment: Faith and Science”). The judgment, handed down on 11th November –Continue reading “Application to appeal against judgment authorising withdrawal of life-sustaining treatment: Re XY”

Transparency requires free and timely public access to skeleton arguments in the Court of Appeal

By Celia Kitzinger, 28th July 2024 Why were members of the public asked to pay £626 to read skeleton arguments from a case in the Court of Appeal?   Not me. I got them for free after I asked the lawyers, one of whom asked the judges during the course of the hearing whether I could haveContinue reading “Transparency requires free and timely public access to skeleton arguments in the Court of Appeal”

Application to appeal the finding that Andy Casey is dead

By Daniel Clark, 24 October 2023 Andy Casey was 24-years-old when he was punched in the head in a pub beer garden, and suffered a catastrophic brain injury and minor neck spinal fractures. He was admitted to a Neurointensive Care Unit, and began to receive organ support. Given his deteriorating condition, the hospital suspected thatContinue reading “Application to appeal the finding that Andy Casey is dead”

The most complex Covid patient in the world: Planning for a re-hearing after a successful appeal

All this detailed planning – what needs to be provided by what deadline and by whom – is part of preparing for a full hearing, especially where (as here) matters are contested.  Hearings like these feel relatively pedestrian: they lack the intrinsic interest we all feel about the ethically weighty decisions made in final hearings. But they are the essential scaffolding upon which those final hearings depend.

A life-sustaining treatment decision from Hayden J in the Court of Appeal

Having witnessed a loving and dedicated family rally to their mother/sister’s cause at the previous hearings, I was not surprised to learn that they had brought an appeal against Hayden J’s order that it will not be in AH’s best interests, and not lawful, for ventilatory treatment to continue after 31st October 2021.