‘Legal regulators can reduce the amount of enforcement work they need to undertake if they can build enough trust that lawyers will approach them before things go wrong, an event has heard.’
Legal Futures, 10th January 2023
Source: www.legalfutures.co.uk
‘In this episode, Emma-Louise Fenelon speaks to Margaret Bowron KC about how to avoid disastrous expert evidence.’
Law Pod UK, 9th January 2022
Source: audioboom.com
‘A former family doctor has received two more life sentences, after sexually assaulting four women during unnecessary examinations.’
BBC News, 9th January 2022
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
‘The Domestic Abuse Act 2021 came into force in April 2021. Section 65 of the Act (which amends the Matrimonial and Family Proceedings Act 1984 (MFPA) creates prohibitions which “prohibit cross-examination in person”.’
Garden Court Chambers, 23rd December 2022
Source: www.gardencourtchambers.co.uk
‘The chief executive of BrewDog has paid out almost £500,000 from his own pocket to winners of a bungled “solid gold” beer can promotion which he has admitted made the controversial brewer look “dishonest and disingenuous”.’
The Guardian, 9th January 2023
Source: www.theguardian.com
‘It is commonplace now for the trustee of almost any sort of trust to be a company, and for the individuals who may colloquially be referred to as “the trustees” to in fact not be trustees at all, but to be the directors of the trustee company. Occupational pension schemes have been particularly keen adopters of this structure. In some respects it makes little difference to the beneficiaries: the trustee is the trustee, whether an individual or a company. But when the individuals involved are alleged to have acted in breach of their duties, the corporate structure allows for more complex claims than the ordinary breach of trust claim that would be brought against individual trustees.’
Wilberforce Chambers, 20th December 2022
Source: www.wilberforce.co.uk
‘The benefits of rehabilitation are well known. Numerous academic studies have demonstrated its importance and the net economic benefit (to both society and insurers) from its early introduction and funding. Despite that, many insurers continue to take a hostile and unsupportive attitude driven, perhaps, by a suspicion that a claimant will seek to introduce care, therapies, equipment or accommodation that might somehow increase the value of any eventual claim. I don’t believe that to be the case. In fact, my own experience is strongly that those insurers and defendant solicitors who actively support and fund early rehabilitation (and it is right to highlight that many do), even when liability is disputed, invariably end up achieving an earlier settlement with a costs saving and, on occasions, a saving in damages arising from the better recovery enjoyed by the claimant.’
Exchange Chambers, 22nd December 2022
Source: www.exchangechambers.co.uk
Boundary disputes, whether concerning large or small amounts of land, are evidentially and legally complex. As a result, they often involve significant costs. In Davis & Anor v Winner, His Honour Judge Mithani KC, in somewhat of a surprising judgment, stated, obiter dictum, that to prevent disproportionate costs in boundary disputes involving a small amount of land they should be allocated to the Small Claims Track (“SCT”). Davis has been subsequently relied upon by District Judges to allocate analogous cases to the SCT. However, given the complex characteristics of boundary disputes, it is necessary to undertake a detailed assessment of their suitability for the SCT.
Pallant Chambers, 14th December 2022
Source: www.pallantchambers.co.uk
‘Join Andreas Gledhill KC as he explores the implications of the recent Court of Appeal decision Re Compound Photonics Group Ltd; Faulkner v. Vollin Holdings Ltd [2022] EWCA Civ 1371.’
Blackstone Chambers, 13th December 2022
Source: www.blackstonechambers.com
‘Colin Wells discusses the recent case of ANP [2022] EWCA Crim 1111 in which the Court of Appeal (Criminal Division) considered the circumstances of when a case might be stayed as an abuse of process when important evidence has been lost or destroyed.’
25 Bedford Row, 5th December 2022
Source: www.25bedfordrow.com
‘AXX (A protected party by his litigation friend XRE) v. Zajac [2022] EWHC 2463 is the first reported case in the High Court (KBD) concerning the ‘new’ CPR Practice Direction 1A which requires the court to take all proportionate measures to address any impediment to a party’s participation in proceedings caused by their ‘vulnerability’. Master McCloud granted an application made on behalf of the Claimant (who was a protected party due to a psychotic condition which had arisen after his accident) for a trial of causation as a preliminary issue on the basis that, if successful at that stage, the Claimant could seek interim funding for treatment to address his psychiatric symptoms and allow him to participate fully in the subsequent quantum trial. The Master also refused an application from the Defendant for an ‘unless’ order (whereby the claim would be stayed unless the Claimant cooperated with examinations to be performed by the Defendant’s instructed medical experts) because of concerns about the Claimant’s capacity to consent to examination. This decision illustrates the important role that PD1A has in shaping case management decisions to protect the interests of parties with vulnerabilities.’
Exchange Chambers, 22nd December 2022
Source: www.exchangechambers.co.uk
‘Keoghs recently wrote about their triple success in defeating claims for psychological injury arising out of road traffic accidents. The common denominator of the three claims was that each of the Claimants sought to rely upon the medical evidence of a specific Consultant Psychologist. Sharan Sanghera acted for the Defendant in one of those Claims, her comment on the case appears below.’
3PB, 13th December 2022
Source: www.3pb.co.uk
‘The issue of the recoverability of VAT in the assessment of costs is unusual, but a 20% difference in the sum to be paid as a paying party can be very significant. The issue became very contentious in this case, with the RP contending in their skeleton argument that the point raised was “bizarre and bound to fail”.’
Guildhall Chambers, 6th December 2022
Source: www.guildhallchambers.co.uk
‘The Court of Appeal has handed down a significant judgment on the interpretation of settlement agreements; and specifically, whether a settlement agreement was intended to, and has the effect of, precluding or releasing claims arising from fraud, conspiracy or other intentional wrongdoing despite not expressly referring to such claims.’
Blackstone Chambers, 21st December 2022
Source: www.blackstonechambers.com
‘“No” appears to be the short answer. This is a recent decision (this month) where the High Court upheld a decision by a lay bench not to permit oral evidence of the parties at a private law final hearing. The court held that it was a legitimate exercise of the court’s case management powers. This judgment may surprise some people, and it would be interesting to see what the Court of Appeal would decide if it was further appealed.’
Becket Chambers, 21st December 2022
Source: becket-chambers.co.uk
‘When professionals are sued, it’s not unusual for them to make an assertion that their clients were “up to something”, or to complain that they had provided wilfully misleading or incomplete instructions.’
4 New Square Chambers, 7th December 2022
Source: www.4newsquare.com
‘Professional experience and the reported cases (considered below) suggest issues of breach, causation and contributory negligence are invariably intertwined. The advisor’s role is to carefully unpick the strands. Whilst there is a factual and legal overlap, the issues need to be considered separately on their individual merits.’
Exchange Chambers, 22nd December 2022
Source: www.exchangechambers.co.uk
‘Two recent decisions on the application of qualified one-way-costs-shifting (“QOCS”), of the High Court in Chappell v Mrozek [2022] EWHC 3147 (KB), and of the Court of Appeal in Harrison v University Hospitals of Derby & Burton NHS Foundation Trust [2022] EWCA Civ 1660, reinforce the difficulty that personal injury and clinical negligence defendants will face in obtaining enforceable costs orders other than where the claimant obtains an order for damages at trial1. Defendants will generally be unable to enforce costs orders where the claim is settled via Part 36, even if an order of the court is required to enforce the settlement, to permit the claimant to accept the offer, or to direct that the amount payable to the claimant is reduced by the amount of any deductible benefits.’
Hailsham Chambers, 3rd January 2023
Source: www.hailshamchambers.com
‘The Government published the latest quarterly and annual statistics last month. We explore what they reveal about the volume of claims and levels of compensation.’
Mills & Reeve, 4th January 2023
Source: www.mills-reeve.com
‘The debate around whether mediation can or should be made mandatory has been around for some time. In July this year, the government announced their intention to implement mandatory mediation in all contested claims under £10,000 in the county courts; one driver being only 21% of small claims opt into the present Small Claims Mediation Scheme (SCMS).’
Doughty Street Chambers, 22nd December 2022
Source: insights.doughtystreet.co.uk
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