Top personal injury decisions of the Court of Appeal in 2015 21 December 2015 Ian-Miller case report, clinical negligence, Damages, employers liability, jurisprudence, medical law, personal injury, practice direction, quantum, road traffic accidents, Strike Out, travel, workplace claims (0) The Court of Appeal has made a number of important decisions in 2015 in the field of personal injury. As the year draws to a close, Ella Davis and I review some of the most important of them for the PI practitioner. They cover psychiatric damage, causation, quantum, the Athens Convention, jurisdiction, duties of care, vicarious liability and non-delegable duties... Psychiatric Damage Live... [More]
The English Claimant and the French uninsured tortfeasor: claims against the MIB 02 December 2015 Matthew-Chapman (0) Marshall & Pickard v MIB & Others [2015] EWHC 3421 (QB) These claims arose out of a road traffic accident in the municipality of Thiais, France on 19 August 2012. Mr Pickard, a UK national domiciled in England (now and at the time of the accident), was the driver of a Ford Fiesta. Mr Pickard had a passenger in the Ford Fiesta: another English domiciled UK national, Paul Marshall. While ... [More]
Autumn Statement for PI Lawyers 25 November 2015 Ella-Davis access to justice, costs, courts, Damages, insurance, personal injury, politics, quantum, road traffic accidents, whiplash (0) The government has released a summary of the Autumn Statement with 20 Key Announcements, the last of which will be of great interest to personal injury lawyers. It reads as follows: “20. People will no longer be able to get cash compensation for minor whiplash claims To make it harder for people to claim compensation for exaggerated or fraudulent whiplash claims, the government is endin... [More]
Stroke Caused By Beauty Facial Case Settles 11 November 2015 Kiril-Waite case report, courts, Damages, employers liability, evidence, Experts, healthcare, insurance, LP damages, LP duty of care, LP foreseeability, LP indemnity, LP Quantum, personal injury, quantum, SA Employers Liability, SA Health and Safety, SA Industrial Disease, SA Insurance, workplace claims (0) Claims against negligent beauticians and the like are not altogether uncommon. The injuries tend to be dermatological in nature consequent of some allergic reaction to an untested product. But who would have thought it possible, let alone likely, for someone to suffer a stroke as a result of a beauty facial treatment? Tragically that is what happened to Elizabeth Hughes after her visit to the s... [More]
Quantity not quality 09 November 2015 Ella-Davis case report, clinical negligence, Damages, healthcare, master of the rolls, medical law, NHS, personal injury, quantum (0) The decision of Foskett J in Reaney v University Hospital of North Staffordshire NHS Trust [2014] EWHC 3016 (QB) (rightly) caused some excitement in the legal blogosphere when it was handed down in October 2014. It appeared that he had extended the familiar eggshell skull rule by holding that a Defendant who had injured a woman with pre-existing care needs was liable to compensate for her fu... [More]
CPR 35.1: When is expert evidence ‘reasonably required’? (2/2) 06 November 2015 Tom-Collins (0) The second case dealing with the proper approach to applications under r. 35.1 is Nuemann v Camel [2015] LTL 29/10/15. In this case, the claimant had been injured in a road traffic accident caused by the defendant's negligent driving and liability was not disputed. The claimant had a pre-existing condition, osteogenesis imperfecta, which had caused her bones to fracture as a teenager. She h... [More]
CPR 35.1: When is expert evidence ‘reasonably required’? (1/2) 06 November 2015 Tom-Collins case report, evidence, Experts (0) Expert evidence is often talked of in terms of parties’ ‘rights’, i.e. to a fair trial or for equality of arms. In the field of PI and Clinical Negligence, it is taken for granted that except in the clearest of cases, the Court will admit (often gratefully) expert opinion on condition and prognosis as well as liability and causation. However, two recent decisions in different div... [More]
Loss of future earnings and disability 30 October 2015 Andrew-Spencer Damages (0) A claimant is “disabled” for the purposes of Tables A – D of the Ogden Tables when s/he has an illness or disability which has or is expected to last for a year or more (or a progressive illness); which “substantially limits” the claimant’s ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities; and which affects the kind or amount of paid work s/he can do. ... [More]
Edward Bishop QC considers obstacles in claims for psychiatric damage 29 October 2015 Ian-Miller medical law, personal injury, case report, clinical negligence (0) In Speirs v St George’s Healthcare NHS Trust (Unreported, December 2014) a mother claimed damages for psychiatric injury which she said had arisen as a result of the shock of seeing one of her daughters who had been seriously damaged during an instrumental ‘ventouse’ birth. The judge dismissed the mother’s claim on the grounds that she had not suffered a psychiatric injury ... [More]
Fixed costs in RTA, EL and PL multi track claims 27 October 2015 Ian-Miller case report, costs, cpr, Damages (0) A claim which starts under the RTA protocol but proceeds on the multi track remains subject to the fixed recoverable costs regime. So held HHJ David Grant in the case of Qader v Esure (Unreported, 15th October 2015). The case concerned a claim for damages for personal injury arising out of an RTA. The value of the claim was pleaded at £5,000 to £15,000. The Defendant alleged that the a... [More]