News Category 2
A Busy Day in Gwent - Ian Clarke, 1 Chancery Lane
15/10/13. Yesterday’s Guardian reported that Cwmbran magistrates’ court was closed for all normal business due to the court having to deal with 86 people, mainly from just two valleys in south Wales, being accused of taking part in one of the UKs largest “cash for crash” frauds. The charges ranged from single counts of conspiracy to defraud insurance companies to conspiracy to steal, receiving stolen goods and money laundering.
The defendants were bailed to appear at Newport Crown Court next month, although in more manageable batches. Should any of the defendants be found guilty it seems unlikely that they will be able to expect much judicial sympathy if the views expressed by the Court of Appeal in R v Nikki McKenzie [2013] EWCA Crim 1544 are anything to...
Image ©iStockphoto.com/payphoto
No Reasonable Drunks - Marc Rivalland, 1 Chancery Lane
13/10/13. In the leading case of Owens v Brimmell [1977] QB 859, a passenger who was injured in a car accident had his damages reduced by 20% because he had accepted a ride with a driver whom must have known had too much to drink. In a much quoted dictum, Russell J held:
“A passenger may be guilty of contributory negligence if he rides with the driver of a car whom he knows has consumed alcohol in such quantity as is likely to impair to a dangerous degree that driver’s capacity to drive properly and safely”.
The passage can be misread as requiring...
Image ©iStockphoto.com/jacomstephens
Mental Capacity - Bill Braithwaite QC, Head of Exchange Chambers
08/10/13. We had a meeting of our Court of Protection team yesterday, and it highlighted the many areas of difficulty and dispute in relation to people who do not have mental capacity. For me, as a specialist in catastrophic brain injury litigation, there are many difficult questions which arise in the course of a compensation claim; usually, they arise out of a combination of the issues whether the patient has mental capacity and, if not, who has precisely what power to decide precisely what on his or her behalf.
Image ©iStockphoto.com/RapidEye
Playing With Fire - Ian Miller, 1 Chancery Lane
25/09/13. Do the Fire Services as employers owe duties under health and safety regulations or at common law, or does a ‘fireground immunity’ exist? These questions were dealt with by Irwin J in the tragic case of the Wembridge Claimants and others v East Sussex Fire and Rescue Service and others[2013] EWHC 2331. Two fire-fighters were killed and a number of people were injured when a container containing fireworks (estimated to have the equivalent to 190/300 kilograms of TNT) exploded. A farm was used for the storage of fireworks near Lewes which has the reputation of the fireworks capital of the UK. Two Mr Winters ran the outfit. One of the Mr Winters was inserting a detonator into...
Image ©iStockphoto.com/Mark-W-R
![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)
