xs
This website uses cookies to ensure you get the best experience on our website. Learn more
Law Cases
Labour Law Cases
Industrial action Cases

Dimbleby v NUJ [1984] ICR 386

Country:
United Kingdom
By Oxbridge Law Team
Lord Diplock

  • Plaintiff (newspapers) entered a printing agreement with T printers.

  • NUJ was involved in a trade dispute with T, and therefore ordered its members working for Plaintiff not to supply newspapers to T for printing.

  • Plaintiff sought an injunction to stop this practice and damages for tortious interference with performance of the contract.

  • HL granted this, holding that the existence of a trade dispute between NUJ and T did not exempt it from tort liability in a dispute with Plaintiff.

    • It was irrelevant that T was owned by the same parent company as Plaintiff. 

Lord Diplock

  • He rejected the argument that because T and Plaintiff were associated companies, NUJ really had a trade dispute with Plaintiff too: They were separate corporate entities, and the Companies Act allowed the corporate veil to be used so as to let enterprises engage in new ventures with limited financial liability.

  • This strongly militates against lifting the corporate veil except where parliament explicitly demands it (or on occasion if that intent of parliament is made clear from the statute).

  • This is not the case here. 

Any comments or edits about this case?
Get in touch

Similar cases

Middlebrook Mushrooms v TGWU
Plaintiff had a dispute with its union, Defendant. Defendant gave leaflets to members of the public outside supermarkets that sold Plaintiff’s produce, urging them to boycott it. Plaintiff sought an...
Stratford v Lindley
X decided to negotiate an agreement for working conditions with TGWU only. Another union (WU) objected to this since it too had members working for X, and decided to boycott X’s barges, preventing X’...
Merkur Island Shipping v Laughton
Plaintiff refused to comply with ITF’s demands to pay staff European rates, so ITF ‘blacked’ Plaintiff’s ship, preventing it from leaving the harbour. Plaintiff sought an injunction against the black...
UCL Hospitals Trust v UNISON
Plaintiff contracted TP to build a new hospital under PFI, and some of the staff currently employed by Plaintiff (an NHS Trust) would be transferred to be employed by the new hospital. When Plaintiff...
Thomson v Deakin
Plaintiff sacked a member of Union 1. Union 1 managed to get the members of Union 2, who worked for Plaintiff’s suppliers, not to deliver supplies to Plaintiff. As a result supplier S told Plaintiff...

logo

Ambitious and intelligent students
choose Oxbridge Notes.

©2024 Oxbridge Notes. All right reserved.