Displaying items by tag: High Court

China: China Shanshui Cement has obtained an injunction from the High Court in Hong Kong against its former management from posing as current managers, from entering the premises of, removing assets from or soliciting the employees of Shandong Shanshui. The injunction also prevents Mi Jingtian, Zhao Liping, Li Maohuan and Yu Yuchuan from each removing assets up to the value of US$20.5m from Hong Kong. The legal action follows an ‘illegal’ occupation in early April 2017 of the Jinan properties of its Shandong Shanshui subsidiary, during which representatives of Shanshui Cement were accosted by a hostile crowd.

Ireland: The Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC) has appealed against a High Court judgment preventing the CCPC from accessing or reviewing certain electronic documents seized by the CCPC during a search conducted in May 2015.

The High Court judgment arose from a court action taken by CRH against the CCPC following the seizure of hard copy and electronic documents by the CCPC during an unannounced search at the premises of CRH’s subsidiary, Irish Cement, on 14 May 2015. The search related to an investigation by the CCPC into alleged anti-competitive conduct in the bagged cement sector. The orders made by the High Court prevent the CCPC from accessing or reviewing material in the mailbox of Seamus Lynch, a director of Irish Cement, unless the CCPC and CRH agree to appoint an independent third party to ‘sift’ the seized documents for material relevant to the investigation.

The CCPC’s investigation into alleged anti-competitive practices by Irish Cement in the supply of bagged cement continues.

Ireland: Justice Max Barrett of the High Court has ruled that the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC) breached the terms of a search warrant by seizing the email account of a CRH executive in 2014. The court also determined that the competition body had breached the Data Protection Acts, the Irish constitution and the European Convention on Human Rights. The court added that the seized emails contained material outside the scope of the investigation.

The CCPC responded by saying it was ‘considering carefully’ the implications of the judgment and the next steps that it would take. However, its investigation into alleged anti-competitive practices by Irish Cement in the supply of bagged cement continues.

The CCPC carried out an unannounced search at the premises of Irish Cement on 14 May 2015 as part of an on-going investigation into alleged anti-competitive practices in the supply of bagged cement. During the search, the CCPC seized a number of electronic documents including the mailboxes of a number of current and former employees of Irish Cement. CRH argued that certain emails in the mailbox of one such employee, Seamus Lynch, were unrelated to the business of Irish Cement and were therefore not entitled to be seized. Accordingly, in November 2015, CRH brought a High Court action against the CCPC seeking an injunction to prevent the CCPC from examining these emails.

Ireland: The Supreme Court has overturned rulings made by a High Court judge in proceedings by Goode Concrete against CRH on grounds of alleged objective bias arising from the judge holding some Euro135,000 in CRH shares, according to The Irish Times.

Chief Justice Susan Denham said that, if the judges held shares directly in a company involved in litigation before them, as opposed to shares held in a pension plan or unit fund over which they have no control, they should 'generally' not hear the action. The disputed rulings, all unfavourable to the Goode side, were made between 2010 and 2012 by Justice John Cooke, who has since retired, on pre-trial matters in Goode Concrete's action over alleged uncompetitive practices by CRH. The issues will now be reheard before a different High Court judge.

By a four-to-one majority, the Supreme Court granted Goode's appeals against the rulings after finding that Justice Cooke erred in law in hearing the applications due to reasonable apprehension of objective bias due to his CRH shareholding. Justice Cooke held the shares himself; they were not in a trust or any other type of fund.