LAW FIRM BACKS MOVIE AT CANNES FILM FESTIVAL

Grantham based law firm JMP Solicitors has invested in a movie which is said to be the UK’s most expensive co-operative based film ever made.

The movie, ‘A Dark Reflection’ was produced by former British Airways Captain Tristan Loraine under his award winning production banner ‘Fact Not Fiction Films’ and screens at the Cannes Film Festival on 15^th May and 19^th May. The film is in the style of ‘Erin Brockovitch’ meets ‘All the Presidents Men’ and tells the story of a chilling conspiracy at the heart of the aviation industry.

JMP Solicitors Managing Director, Ian Howard said “We decided to invest in this film as the issues highlight the serious health and safety concerns from air recirculated into commercial jet engine cabins, an issue which is at the heart of our cabin crew claims service”.

“The firm is representing a number air crew that have worked for British airlines for a number of years and who are consequently at an increased risk of experiencing serious health complications”.

A Dark Reflection stars Rita Ramnani (The Hunt for Gollum), Stephen Tompkinson (Brassed Off & DCI Banks) and Marina Sirtis (Star Trek).

Director and Producer, Tristan Loraine said “A 1000 people helped make this film to expose a serious health and flight safety issue that impacts aviation today. Funding from around the world, including the investment from JMP Solicitors has supported us to screen this film at the Cannes Film Festival.

The firm encourages frequent air passengers, air stewards, air stewardesses and pilots to visit their dedicated website at www.cabincrewclaims.co.uk to become aware of the issues this film highlights and to register their interest in making a claim.

Right to be forgotten

A Spanish court has today moved the European community one step closer to enforcing search engines to remove results linked with your past from their index of search results.

At the moment whatever appears on the internet is indexed and can appear whenever someone searches against your name even where the incident or event occurred many years ago.

In the Spanish case before the courts today Mr Gonzalez ran into financial difficulties sixteen years ago and as a result his property was put up for auction. Even today when searching for his name, search engines prominently display this information and Mr Gonzalez claims this has damaged his reputation and should be removed from search engine results.

The court has agreed and even though this case is within the Spanish legal system it does reinforce the EU's attempts for a new law to be introduced on data privacy allowing the 'right to be forgotten' principle to apply.

The EU are looking at significant consequences for any breach with a fine of 1% of global revenues if the full proposals are passed.

The decision has also created a precedent in enforcing a ruling from within the European Union against an American company. Ms Reding of the EU commission stated that US firms "can no longer hide behind their servers being based in California or anywhere in the world".

CBI warns on rate rise

The Bank of England may have to raise interest rates in the first three months of next year to combat the UK's overheating housing market, according to the CBI.

 

Property prices are expected to increase by 8.2% this year and 5.1% in 2015. Although overall housing transactions are currently running at 30% below their 2006 peak, the market is quickly picking up pace, with a 25% increase in London prices fuelling speculation of a bubble.

 

CBI director general John Cridland said: "Housing has come back under the spotlight as annual house price inflation figures have reached double-digit figures on some measures."

 

(source: The Daily Telegraph)

Surgeons banned from keyhole surgery

Three NHS surgeons have been banned from using a keyhole technique to operate on cancer patients after the procedure led to at least five deaths.

A further 17 cases in which patients may have died or suffered complications as a result of botched operations by the three men are being investigated.

(source: The Sunday Telegraph)

Court of Appeal to hear resuscitation case

The case of a dying woman who was not consulted before a "do not resuscitate" notice was placed in her medical records is due to be heard in the Court of Appeal.

 

Janet Tracey, who had terminal lung cancer, died in hospital in Cambridge three years ago. Her family are pushing for a national policy about how the notices should be used in the NHS in England.

 

Addenbrooke’s Hospital says its doctors acted in Mrs Tracey's best interests.

(source: The Guardian)

Mortgage approvals down

Mortgage approvals dropped in March according to the Bank of England, falling from 69,592 in February to 67,135. 

Howard Archer, chief UK economist at HIS Global Insight, commented: “It is likely that the further easing back in mortgage activity in March from January's peak level reflected some banks raising their mortgage lending standards before the new regulations”. 

(source: Evening Standard)

House price growth hits double figures

Annual house price growth has hit double figures for the first time in four years, according to Nationwide. 

In the year to April, prices rose by 10.9%, the first annual double-digit growth since April 2010 and the fastest rate since June 2007. 

Robert Gardner, Nationwide's chief economist, said: “After several months of moderation, the pace of house price growth picked up in April, with prices rising by 1.2% during the month.” Nationwide said the average UK house price now stood at £183,577. 

Prices in the capital are now about 20% higher than they were before the financial crisis of 2007-08. 

But prices in the rest of the country are still around 2% lower than their pre-crisis peak. Meanwhile, Sir Jon Cunliffe, the deputy governor of the Bank of England, has warned that surging house prices pose the single biggest threat to UK financial stability. 

(source: Daily Telegraph)