News Category 2
Increased Success Fees, Belated Guidance: Hussain v Chartis Insurance Uk Ltd - PJ Kirby QC, Hardwicke
20/01/14. Cases involving pre 1 April 2013 CFAs will remain of importance for a few more years to come and maximising recovery under such CFAs must surely (if sometimes apologetically) be the aim of the receiving party's lawyers. This decision concerned an appeal against the cost judge's refusal to allow an increased success fee under CPR 45.18(2)(c) following the settlement of a personal injury claim arising out of a road traffic accident.
The Claimant had suffered very serious injuries including brain damage as a result of an RTA. He was a protected party. As the costs judge, Master Gordon-Saker, correctly stated “The circumstances of the accident were hotly in dispute.” The First Defendant contended that he had been physically attacked by...
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Severed Fingers and the Erra - Julie Carlisle, Boyes Turner
18/01/14. It was reported by the HSE on 6 January that a plastics firm has been fined after an employee had four fingers severed in a circular saw. He had stopped the machine to clear a blockage and the saw blade automatically moved from its operating position to its maintenance position. Because this was in the base of the machine the worker could not see it and did not realise it was still rotating. He put his left hand in to clear the blockage and came into contact with the blades, severing four fingers. He has been unable to return to work since.
The HSE found that the motor had not been fitted with an injection brake which meant that the saw continued to rotate for around five minutes after the stop button was pushed. Neither the employers not the injured employee knew about this, but a number of other employees did. The problem was...
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PI Practitioner, January 2014
16/01/14. 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 our PI Brief Update newsletter. Just select "Free Newsletter" from the menu at the top of this page and fill in your email address.
Form N251 & the New Rule 3.9 CPR
Forstater & ors v Python (Monty) Pictures Ltd & ors (ibid)
The First Claimant had provided information about his conditional fee agreement but the Second Defendant, the First Defendant's company, had failed to serve an N251 form. The court was required to determine the matter of costs.
In relation to the Second Claimant's success fee, under r 44.3B a party had to give information about...
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Experts and Advocates - Bill Braithwaite QC, Head of Exchange Chambers
15/01/14. Sorting my last year’s blogs, I see that I wrote quite a bit about experts – not surprising, as they are fundamentally important to the successful outcome of a case. I was struck today, though, by one aspect of interest. A good expert, I think, should alert the lawyers to other areas of investigation, and it is common to see such recommendations. Reading my papers for tomorrow, though, I was struck, as I often am with one particular expert, by the fact that I don’t agree with his recommendations for other areas of investigation. Equally, I have seen in the past that solicitors have followed this expert’s suggestions, and either it has taken us nowhere, or it has been positively counter-productive...
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All Change in Scotland for Civil Litigation Funding - David Armstrong, Brodies LLP
14/01/14. 2014 may see the introduction of significant changes in Scotland both on how the civil courts operate and the manner and extent to which costs are recoverable in civil litigation. These changes are currently proposals detailed in two reports. The first is Lord Gill’s Report of the Scottish Civil Court Review published back in September 2009. This Report detailed many significant changes concerning the operation of Civil Justice in Scotland. This review did not, however, deal with the question of litigation expenses. It was left to Sheriff Principal James Taylor to look at this issue. He published his Review of Expenses and Funding of Civil Litigation in Scotland in November last year.
His 85 recommendations show that access to justice can be widened, and Scottish courts made a more attractive forum for resolving commercial disputes, not by sweeping away the current arrangements but rather by adapting and amending them, while at the same time proposing some interesting and genuinely radical new approaches...
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More Articles...
- Low Velocity Impacts: An Update - Andrew Mckie, Clerksroom
- Soft Tissue Injuries and Their Consequences - Fiona Ashworth, Kings Chambers
- Want to Live Longer… Move to Dorset! - Simon Readhead QC, 1 Chancery Lane
- Everett v London Fire & Emergency Planning Authority (2013) - Michael Mulcare, Mayo Wynne Baxter LLP
![Appeal judge rules that credit hire company has no costs liability following a finding of fundamental dishonesty in personal injury case: RSA v. Fastrack Solutions Limited [2023] 4 WLUK 92 - David Bowden, Erimus Chambers](/content/images/resized/images/stories/carkeys_72_72.jpg)
