PI Brief Update

£23m settlement for brain injured child: the cost of medical negligence - Ben Gent, Express Solicitors

28/02/19.  In December 2018, the High Court approved a £23m compensation settlement for a 10-year-old boy (AC) who suffered brain damage at birth as a result of medical negl...

Summary of Recent Cases, February 2019

15/02/19. Here is a summary of the recent notable court cases over the past month. You can also receive these for free by registering for our PI Brief Update newsletter. Just sel...

Summary of Recent Cases, January 2019

15/01/19. Here is a summary of the recent notable court cases over the past month. You can also receive these for free by registering for our PI Brief Update newsletter. Just sel...

Time to re-examine tree inspection regimes - Simon Jones & Susan Rands, BLM

11/01/19. In Witley Parish Council v Cavanagh [2018] EWCA Civ 2232, the claimant was seriously injured when a large mature lime tree fell across the road onto the single decker bus...

Summary of Recent Cases, December 2018

15/12/18. Here is a summary of the recent notable court cases over the past month. You can also receive these for free by registering for our PI Brief Update newsletter. Just sel...

Where Paternal Depression Meets Secondary Victim Claims - Chantelle Bacchus, Bolt Burdon Kemp

07/12/18. When we talk about post-natal depression, we often think of mothers. This is a fair assumption and 1 in 5 women develop mental health problems during pregnancy or in th...

Note on the Supreme Court Judgment in Darnley - Jeremy Pendlebury, 7BR

05/12/18. The Supreme Court, per the judgment of Lord Lloyd-Jones (with whom Lady Hale and Lords, Reed, Kerr and Hodge all agreed), allowed the appeal by Michael Darnley from the...

Cauda Equina Syndrome - Sandra De Souza, Anthony Gold Solicitors

03/12/18. Cauda Equina Syndrome (CES) is a serious condition which occurs when the nerves in the spinal canal have been damaged. These nerves control the bladder, bowel, genitals...

FREE BOOK CHAPTER from 'A Practical Guide to Vicarious Liability' by Mariel Irvine

29/11/18. Chapter One - Overview

To search for certainty and precision in vicarious liability is to undertake a quest for a chimaera. Many aspects of the law of torts are inheren...

Fundamental dishonesty in occupational disease claims (part 2) - Paul Debney, Weightmans LLP

18/11/18. In last month’s edition, Paul Debney examined the early reported decisions of findings of fundamental dishonesty in disease claims, with specific reference to a claiman...

Summary of Recent Cases, November 2018

15/11/18. Here is a summary of the recent notable court cases over the past month. You can also receive these for free by registering for our PI Brief Update newsletter. Just sel...

FREE CHAPTER: The History And The Science (from ‘A Practical Guide to Claims Arising from Delays in Diagnosing Cancer’ by Bella Webb)

14/11/18. Chapter Two - The History and the Science

This chapter will look at the trend towards an increase in delayed cancer diagnosis claims and the rationale and statistics tha...

M v Morton - Andrea Ribchester-Hodgson & Sarah Wright, Spencers Solicitors

05/11/18. Accident date: 4 December 2013

Settlement date: 29 March 2017

Gross settlement: £24,500.00

The Claim

The Claimant, M, was driving her vehicle along the road when the Defend...

Case Summary: CS v Alan Smith, Northampton CCMCC - Emma Melia & Sarah Wright, Spencers Solicitors

01/11/18. Case Name: CS v Alan Smith

Court Name: Northampton CCMCC

Accident Date: 5th June 2014

Settlement Date: 29th January 2018

TOTAL GROSS SETTLEMENT £250,000.0

TOT...

Accommodation; Discount or Dilemma? - Trevor Ward, Fletchers Solicitors

25/10/18. Will the likely change in the discount rate for personal injury losses affect the way in which the Courts deal with the calculation of accommodation claims in serious p...

When can a Claimant be allowed a Second Bite at a Cherry? - Aidan Ellis, Temple Garden Chambers

23/10/18. Following the Jackson reforms, the renewed emphasis on efficiency and compliance with rules, practice directions and orders led to an increased number of claims being s...

Duce v Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust [2018] PIQR P18: The implications for Chester v Afshar - Michael Patrick, Hailsham Chambers

19/10/18. 1. Consider the traditional medical consent scenario: a doctor, in breach of duty, fails to advise her patient of a material risk of a given treatment. The treatment pr...

Book Review - 'Tough Choices: Stories from the front line of medical ethics' by Daniel Sokol (Book Guild, 2018)

16/10/18. “In a world in which the rights of patients and accountability of the medical profession appear to be on the rise this is a timely, fascinating and thought-provoking bo...

Summary of Recent Cases, October 2018

15/10/18. Here is a summary of the recent notable court cases over the past month. You can also receive these for free by registering for our PI Brief Update newsletter. Just sel...

Kids will be kids: What is the extent of the duty owed by schools to their pupils? - Lauren Seagart, Queen Square Chambers

12/10/18. How far does the duty of care owed by schools to pupils extend? We were all familiar with the shouts of ‘WALK! Don’t run’ from teachers as we careered around school cor...

Editorial: Delay and Adjourned Hearings - Aidan Ellis, Temple Garden Chambers

27/02/19. Previous editorials have drawn attention to the prevalence of late adjournments of trials due to judicial availability or court resources. Anecdotally, the ripple effec...

PI Practitioner, February 2019

16/02/19. Each issue a particular topic is highlighted, citing some of the useful cases and other materials in that area. You can also receive these for free by registering for o...

SSB Law win landmark industrial disease case - Stuart White & Christopher Johnson, SSB Law

12/02/19. In a landmark judgement, the High Court has ruled that a former employee of Alcoa, one of the world’s largest producers of aluminium, should be compensated for loss of ...

The importance of getting the wording of pre-trial agreements right - Kate Donachie & Mohsen Din, Brodies LLP

31/01/19. A joint minute is a form of pre-trial agreement which is lodged with the court and sets out non-controversial matters between the parties in advance of a proof (trial) ...

PI Practitioner, January 2019

16/01/19. Each issue a particular topic is highlighted, citing some of the useful cases and other materials in that area. You can also receive these for free by registering for o...

The complex reasons why a claimant takes legal action - Ali Malsher, Anthony Gold Solicitors

14/01/19. Reading the traditional media, it appears, clinical negligence claimants are motivated by finance only. Yet this doesn’t equate with the experience of those who work in...

Fundamental dishonesty in occupational disease claims (part 3) - Paul Debney, Weightmans LLP

09/01/19. In this, the last of a series of 3 articles, Paul Debney, Partner and head of disease counter fraud at national firm Weightmans LLP, examines the impact of the suppress...

Editorial: Trial Bundles - Aidan Ellis, Temple Garden Chambers

20/12/18. Instead of my usual December ‘review of the year’, I will end 2018 with some thoughts about trial bundles. I have had a significant number of trials this month (not all...

PI Practitioner, December 2018

16/12/18. Each issue a particular topic is highlighted, citing some of the useful cases and other materials in that area. You can also receive these for free by registering for o...

Review of Highway Code Due for 2019 - Charles Heppenstall, Weightmans LLP

10/12/18. On the 18th October 2018 the Ministry of Transport announced a proposed update of the Highway Code, to further codify driving practices intended to protect cyclist...

An Introduction to Cooling - Flora Midgley, Bolt Burdon Kemp

06/12/18. The NHS uses controlled cooling to treat newborn babies who suffer brain injuries following a deprivation of oxygen during birth/labour. I am a solicitor at Bolt Burdon...

Cavanagh v Witley Parish Council [2018] EWCA Civ 2232 - Peter Wake, Weightmans LLP

04/12/18. In a recent decision which contains some salutary learning points for defendants, the Court of Appeal has found the defendant local authority to be liable to the claima...

Motor Insurance / MIB Update - Julie-Anne Luck, 9 St John Street Chambers

16/11/18. The potential impact of recent UK and European decisions upon the cost of motor insurance and claims following road traffic accidents cannot be underestimated. The indu...

PI Practitioner, November 2018

16/11/18. Each issue a particular topic is highlighted, citing some of the useful cases and other materials in that area. You can also receive these for free by registering for o...

FREE BOOK CHAPTER from 'A Practical Guide to Relief from Sanctions Post-Mitchell and Denton' by Peter Causton

08/11/18. Chapter Two - Background History: From Woolf to Jackson To Dyson.

Prior to the implementation of the Jackson reforms, it was considered that the courts had become too to...

Balancing the benefits: yoga’s healing power has a valuable place in brain injury rehabilitation - Emma Dryden, George Ide LLP

06/11/18. The effects of traumatic or non-traumatic brain injury depend upon a number of factors but, in general, symptoms can range from physical and cognitive to emotional and ...

Vicariously liability for an assault out of work time and off work premises - Simon Anderson, Park Square Barristers

03/11/18.   Can an employer be held vicariously liable for an assault by a director that takes place on an employee out of work time and off the premises? Yes, accordin...

Laurence Sprey -v- Rawlinson Butler LLP [2018] EWHC 354 (QB) - Andrew McAulay, Clarion

26/10/18. Following the introduction of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2013 (LASPO), solicitor/own client costs disputes have increased. The case of Lau...

Fundamental dishonesty in occupational disease claims - Paul Debney, Weightmans LLP

24/10/18. In this, the first of a series of 3 articles, Paul Debney, Partner and head of disease counter fraud at national firm Weightmans LLP, highlights some of the issues surr...

Tuson v Murphy [2018] EWCA Civ 1491 - James Manning, Bevan Brittan LLP

17/10/18. In Tuson v Murphy [2018] EWCA Civ 1491, the Court of Appeal overturned a costs order made against the Claimant, who had been ordered to pay a proportion of the Defendant'...