John v Central Manchester and Manchester Children’s University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust – WLR Daily

Posted March 7th, 2016 in causation, contribution, damages, delay, law reports, negligence, personal injuries by tracey

John v Central Manchester and Manchester Children’s University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust: [2016] EWHC 407 (QB)

‘The claimant suffered a head injury and was taken to a hospital managed by the defendant. A CT scan was performed some six hours after his admission and he was transferred to another hospital where he underwent surgery. He was left with cognitive and neuropsychological deficits. He claimed damages in negligence against the defendant contending, inter alia, that the defendant’s negligent delay in undertaking the CT scan had resulted in a period of raised intra-cranial pressure which had caused or materially contributed to his brain damage. The defendant contended that only if the claimant could establish that damaging raised intra-cranial pressure caused by the defendant’s negligence had caused his brain injury that, applying the classic “but for” test of causation, he could recover as against the defendant, and that it was insufficient to establish “material contribution”.’

WLR Daily, 16th March 2016

Source: www.iclr.co.uk

CA strikes down judge’s decision not to award 10% Simmons uplift – Litigation Futures

Posted March 4th, 2016 in appeals, costs, damages, judiciary, legal aid, news, personal injuries by tracey

‘A circuit judge was wrong to believe he had discretion not to apply the post-LASPO 10% uplift in damages, the Court of Appeal has ruled.’

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Litigation Futures, 3rd March 2016

Source: www.litigationfutures.com

Part 36 Trumps Fixed Costs (and no Donald in Sight): Broadhurst and Taylor v Tan and Smith [2016] EWCA Civ 94 – Zenith PI Blog

‘In a claim which starts under the Pre-Action Protocol for Low Value Personal Injury Claims (in this case the RTA Protocol), what happens when a Claimant obtains a judgment against a defendant which is at least as advantageous to them as the proposals contained in a Part 36 offer – does the Claimant recover fixed costs only, as per the regime, or does the Claimant recover costs on an indemnity basis?’

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Zenith PI Blog, 1st March 2015

Source: www.zenithpi.wordpress.com

G4S to sell controversial youth jail contracts – The Guardian

‘The private security firm G4S is to sell its UK children’s services business, including its contracts to run two youth prisons, weeks after damning footage emerged of its staff using excessive force on children.’

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The Guardian, 26th February 2016

Source: www.guardian.co.uk

Supreme Court rejects ‘illogical’ precedent on death payments – Law Society’s Gazette

Posted February 25th, 2016 in accidents, appeals, asbestos, damages, news, personal injuries, Supreme Court by sally

‘The Supreme Court has ruled that a mesothelioma victim’s family was under-compensated because of the date when damages were calculated.’

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Law Society’s Gazette, 24th February 2016

Source: www.lawgazette.co.uk

Supreme Court rewrites law on multipliers in fatal accident cases – Legal Futures

‘The Supreme Court has overturned two House of Lords judgments in ruling that the multiplier in assessing damages for fatal accident claims should be calculated from the date of the trial, not the date of death.’

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Litigation Futures, 24th February 2016

Source: www.litigationfutures.com

Offers & CRU – Crooks v Hendricks Lovell Ltd [2016] – Park Square Barristers

Posted February 24th, 2016 in benefits, compensation, news, part 36 offers, personal injuries by sally

‘On the 15th January 2016 the Court of Appeal gave judgment in the case of Crooks v Hendricks Lovell Limited [2016] EWCA Civ 8, which concerned the interpretation of an offer made by a Defendant to settle a claim for personal injury and associated losses.’

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Park Square Barristers, 9th February 2016

Source: www.parksquarebarristers.co.uk

Fraudulent credit hire claim leads to successful tort of deceit claim for costs of investigating such credit hire & exemplary damages – Park Square Barristers

Posted February 24th, 2016 in damages, deceit, fraud, insurance, news, personal injuries, road traffic by sally

‘Judy Dawson discusses how a combination of a quick witted insurer claims handler, a tenacious solicitor, and the expertise of the Park Square Barristers Civil Fraud Team led to a successful result against a fraudulent Claimant.’

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Park Square Barristers, 2nd February 2016

Source: www.parksquarebarristers.co.uk

Challenging Government Decisions a Pain in the Neck – Henderson Chambers

‘On 11 December 2015, Cranston J gave Judgment in Speed Medical Examination Services Limited v Secretary of State for Justice [2015] EWHC 3585 (Admin). Cranston J held that the Defendant’s reforms in respect of the system for obtaining medical reports in whiplash cases was not open to challenge on grounds of irrationality or its purported anticompetitive effects.’

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Henderson Chambers, 3rd February 2016

Source: www.hendersonchambers.co.uk

Supreme Court gives guidance on the admissibility and use of expert evidence – Cloisters

‘Rachel Barrett discusses Kennedy v Cordia (Services) LLP, in which the Supreme Court has given detailed and practical guidance on the admissibility and use of expert evidence in the course of a judgment concerning the remit of employers’ duties to take care for their employees’ safety at work.’

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Cloisters, 10th February 2016

Source: www.cloisters.com

Woman sues London pub for £4.2m after tripping in beer garden – The Guardian

Posted February 23rd, 2016 in appeals, damages, news, personal injuries by sally

‘An HR consultant who fractured her wrist tripping over a rope outside one of London’s best-known gastropubs is suing its owners for £4.2m.’

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The Guardian, 22nd February 2016

Source: www.guardian.co.uk

Practice Note on ‘Capacity’ – Zenith PI Blog

Posted February 18th, 2016 in mental health, news, personal injuries by sally

‘PI practitioners are not safe from capacity considerations. With an aging population and an increasing population of adults with learning disabilities, queries around capacity, whilst not quite ubiquitous yet, is nonetheless becoming an integral part of a PI practitioner’s essential knowledge. The only problem therefore being that in fact most of us know very little about it. For example that it is not a binary matter – a person can have capacity for one type of decision but not for another. In the PI arena we are most likely to be concerned with capacity to litigate but practitioners should be aware that they may also become embroiled in other questions about capacity for example in relation to welfare issues and/or the management of property and affairs.’

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Zenith PI Blog, 18th February 2016

Source: www.zenithpi.wordpress.com

A 95% Liability Offer Can be a Valid Part 36 – Zenith PI Blog

Posted February 16th, 2016 in costs, news, part 36 offers, personal injuries by sally

‘C made an application for indemnity costs following D’s failure to accept C’s Part 36 offer to settle liability at 95%. The offer had been made in a letter dated 30/1/15. D conceded liability some time prior to 17/12/15.’

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Zenith PI Blog, 15th February 2016

Source: www.zenithpi.wordpress.com

‘Steps of court’ settlement was not negligent, court rules – OUT-LAW.com

‘A barrister and firm of solicitors did not act negligently when they advised a client to settle her road traffic accident (RTA) claim after her main witness failed to attend court, the High Court has ruled.’

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OUT-LAW.com, 8th February 2016

Source: www.out-law.com

Lawyers give Jackson’s fixed costs call a frosty reception – Litigation Futures

Posted February 2nd, 2016 in civil justice, costs, fees, news, personal injuries by sally

‘Lawyers have responded negatively to Lord Justice Jackson’s call last week to introduce fixed costs for all civil claims worth up to £250,000.’

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Litigation Futures, 1st February 2016

Source: www.litigationfutures.com

Claimants and lawyers warned over damages repayment risk in RTA protocol cases – Litigation Futures

Posted January 22nd, 2016 in damages, negligence, news, personal injuries, repayment, road traffic, solicitors by sally

‘A claimant who receives less at stage 3 of the RTA protocol than was offered at stage 2 has to reimburse the difference, a circuit judge has ruled.’

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Litigation Futures, 21st January 2016

Source: www.litigationfutures.com

Ee Turpi Causa and the MIB – Zenith PI Blog

Posted January 21st, 2016 in appeals, crime, ex turpi causa, insurance, news, personal injuries, uninsured drivers by sally

‘Smith appealed against the decision of the MIB not to meet his personal injury claim when it was discovered that the First Defendant was an uninsured driver.’

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Zenith PI Blog, 20th January 2016

Source: www.zenithpi.wordpress.com

Cook v Virgin Media Ltd; McNeil v Tesco plc – WLR Daily

Cook v Virgin Media Ltd; McNeil v Tesco plc [2015] EWCA Civ 1287; [2015] WLR (D) 538

‘The English court had power to apply the doctrine of forum non conveniens in a purely domestic context, exercising the court’s wide general case management powers in CPR rr 3.1(2)(m) and 3.3, and therefore could strike out or stay proceedings brought in England where Scotland was the natural and more appropriate forum.’

WLR Daily, 14th December 2015

Source: www.iclr.co.uk

Intentional infliction of harm in tort law – OUP Blog

Posted December 14th, 2015 in compensation, damages, news, personal injuries, psychiatric damage by sally

‘The tort of intentional infliction of harm would seem to encapsulate a basic moral principle – that if you injure someone intentionally and without just cause or excuse, then you should be liable for the commission of a tort – in addition to any crime that you commit. Occasionally, judges have held that there is such a principle, which is of general application: eg, Bowen LJ in Mogul Steamship v McGregor Gow & Co (1889). While this principle is now uncontroversial in cases of the intended infliction of physical harm (see Bird v Holbrook [1828]), the position has been unclear in so far as it concerns the causation of psychiatric harm. The most important case on intended infliction of psychiatric harm (IIPH) was Wilkinson v Downton (1897). But that case has long been doubted because the defendant had been playing a practical joke upon the claimant, telling her that her husband had been involved in an accident and was lying ‘smashed up’ at Leytonstone. Wright J could find no actual intention to harm, but held that an imputed intention to harm was sufficient to create liability.’

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OUP Blog, 14th December 2015

Source: www.blog.oup.com

Speed Medical to appeal after High Court backs MoJ on MedCo – Litigation Futures

Posted December 11th, 2015 in expert witnesses, judicial review, news, personal injuries, road traffic by tracey

‘Speed Medical has said it will appeal after the High Court this morning rejected its judicial review and backed the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) over the operation of MedCo, the portal for expert evidence in whiplash cases.’

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Litigation Futures, 11th December 2015

Source: www.litigationfutures.com