Case Law – Headnote Field

The Headnote field in the case law databases on Justis contains a summary of the case, setting out the facts on which the decision was based and the holding, showing the reason for the decision, with references to relevant authorities. For example:

The plaintiff claimed damages against the defendants on the ground that she suffered from rhinitis and asthma as a result of their negligence and breach of statutory duty while she worked for them as a state enrolled nurse. She consented to the disclosure of her medical records to the defendants' medical, but not legal, advisers. The defendants applied, under section 53(2) of the County Courts Act 1984,¹ for an order requiring the plaintiff's medical practitioner to produce those documents to the defendants' legal advisers. The deputy district judge refused the application and the judge in the county court dismissed the defendants' appeal against the decision.
On the defendants' appeal: -
Held, allowing the appeal, that under section 53(2) of the County Courts Act 1984 the defendants were entitled to have the plaintiff's medical records produced not only to their medical advisers but also to their legal advisers (post, pp. 1002D-E, 1004A).
Dunn v. British Coal Corporation [1993] I.C.R. 591, C.A. considered.
Per curiam. If a third party objects to producing any document on the ground that it is not relevant to an issue, the court must decide whether it is relevant or not (post, p. 1004G-H).

The blue underlined case names are hypertext links; click a case name with your mouse to display the full text of the case report, provided that you have the appropriate Justis database available.

You can also see information about the cases considered, not necessarily just those in the Headnote, by clicking the green “Cases Considered” tab.

The blue underlined numbers (e.g. 1004G-H) are hypertext links to pages within the same case report; click a number with your mouse to go to the indicated page.

Help for individual databases – Aspinall’s Maritime Cases – British Tax Cases – British VAT Cases – Business Law Reports – Daily Cases – Human Rights (Case Law) – Industrial Cases Reports – International Law Reports – Irish Digests – Irish Reports – The Law Reports – Session Cases – Special Commissioners’ Decisions – The Weekly Law Reports