Foreign Law in the English Courts 29 February 2016 Matthew-Chapman case report, Damages, EC Regulations, Experts, LP conflict of laws, LP damages, LP Quantum, personal injury, road traffic accidents, EC Harmonisation (0) A number of the English lawyers who conduct PI litigation in cross-border cases have warned that the full implications of the Rome II Regulation (864/2007) – and the impact that it has on the assessment of damages awarded to English Claimants by English Judges – have yet to be felt. By way of recap, Rome II provides (in Article 15(c)) that once the applicable law of the tort has b... [More]
Fixed Costs and Part 36 Offers 24 February 2016 Thomas-Crockett costs, cpr, General, LP Costs, LP Part 36, personal injury, procedure (0) What is the effect of a claimant’s ‘beaten’ Part 36 Offer upon their costs in a low value personal injury case within the RTA or EL/PL Protocol where claimants' costs are fixed pursuant to CPR 45? This has been a vexed question since the introduction of the fixed costs regime , but one the Master of the Rolls giving the sole judgment of the Court of Appeal in Broadhurst & An... [More]
A predictable revolution: Knauer v Ministry of Defence in the Supreme Court 24 February 2016 Paul-Stagg Damages (0) The Supreme Court has today handed down its judgment [2016] UKSC 9 in the 'leapfrog' appeal to it from the decision of Bean J in Knauer v Ministry of Defence [2014] EWHC 2553 (QB). Bean J's decision is available on BAILII at http://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWHC/QB/2014/2553.html and the Supreme Court's decision is at http://www.bailii.org/uk/cases/UKSC/2016/9.html. Permission for the 'leapfrog' app... [More]
The root of the issue - Highway authority has no duty to remove moss and algae from its footpaths 15 February 2016 Jack-Harding (0) Does the duty to maintain the highway under section 41 of the Highways Act 1980 extend to the removal of moss, algae and other equivalent substances from the footpaths and carriageway? This was the question which came before Haddon-Cave J in Rollinson v Dudley MBC (2015) EWHC 3330 (QB). The answer - a resounding 'no'. Mr Rollinson was walking along a short footpath near to ... [More]
Part 36 Offer: derisory or genuine? 12 February 2016 Ian-Miller case report, costs, LP Part 36, personal injury, procedure (0) The case of Jockey Club Racecourse Ltd v Willmott Dixon Construction Ltd [2016] EWHC 167 deals with two interesting questions: (1) does a Part 36 offer have to reflect an available outcome in the litigation to be valid? (2) when is it a genuine attempt to settle liability? The case concerned a defective roof at the racecourse at Epsom. The claimant offered to settle the issue of liabil... [More]
Damages in fatal claims: Mosson v Spousal (London) Ltd 25 January 2016 Paul-Stagg Damages, quantum (0) Garnham J's decision in Mosson v Spousal (London) Ltd [2015] EWHC 53 (QB) (http://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWHC/QB/2016/53.html), handed down today, contains a number of points of interest in relation to the calculation of damages in fatal claims. The case was brought by the widow of Mr Mosson, who was exposed to asbestos during the course of his employment in the 1960s and 1970s and subsequen... [More]
BBC Expose of 'Crash for Cash' Ring 22 January 2016 Thomas-Crockett General, illegality, road traffic accidents, SA fraud, SA Road Traffic Accidents, whiplash (0) For some light relief (this is being posted on a Friday afternoon after all!) any practitioner involved in PI cases where fraud is alleged could be advised as to look no further than the detailed article published on the BBC Wales’ website about a successful prosecution of a so-called ‘crash for cash’ ring, in this case an extended family. This would appear to be something of an ... [More]
Daniel v St George's Healthcare NHS Trust & London Ambulance Service: a human rights cautionary tale? 21 January 2016 foneill coroners, courts, Damages, European Convention on Human Rights, evidence, Experts, human rights, medical law, NHS, personal injury, public authorities , public policy (0) Daniel v St George’s Healthcare NHS Trust and London Ambulance Service [2016] EWHC 23 (QB) Introduction Edward Bishop QC has successfully defended an NHS trust and the London Ambulance Service against claims under the Human Rights Act 1998 brought by the foster family of a man who died of a heart attack in Wandsworth Prison. The judgment deals with the legal test for liabi... [More]
Another bite at the cherry? Relief from sanctions & changes of circumstances 13 January 2016 Thomas-Crockett (0) The courts’ approach to relief from sanctions is something on an ongoing saga of complexity and appeal, as the disparate permutations the new so-called ‘Jackson Reforms’ present themselves in apparently (at least to the Rules Committee) unforeseen ways. The Supreme Court last month heard an appeal in the case of Thevarajah (Respondent) v Riordan and others (Ap... [More]
T’is the season to be techie ….! 30 December 2015 Simon-Readhead-QC clinical negligence, Damages, LP damages, LP Quantum, personal injury, quantum, Schedules (0) This is the time of year for families …. and for gadgets. Lots of them! In particular, smartphones. An average 65% of children in the UK aged between 8 and 11 now have their own smartphone. This figure rises to 90.5% in Newcastle making it the smartphone capital of the UK for children. This compares with 55.2% in London and only 40% in Brighton and Hove. All this and ... [More]