News Category 3
Editorial: Mapping the New Landscape for the New Year - Aidan Ellis, Temple Garden Chambers
06/12/13. In the week since the Court of Appeal handed down judgment in Mitchell v News Group Newspapers Ltd [2013] EWCA Civ 1537, I have already relied on it three times and been attacked by it once. This editorial does not attempt to address all the issues which arise from this blockbuster case. Instead, this travel guide to the new procedural landscape will focus on the Court of Appeal’s guidance on how courts should apply the new approach to relief from sanctions in practice...
Image cc Ian Britton
“Call the Witness” - Lianne Naughton, 7 Harrington Street Chambers
03/12/13. We have all heard of “Call the Midwife” and, as we head towards Christmas and the inevitable Christmas Special we know that such familiar shows bring comfort and warmth at the end of grizzly winters day and- even if things look a little dicey for a bit- all will be well in the end.
As a Barrister, the words “Call your Witness” can have dramatically different effects and turn that cosy feeling into something rather more chilling. A short conference prior to the trial has revealed that whilst the witness duly ‘signed where indicated’ and returned their statement to the solicitor, at no point did the witness (or solicitor) check its accuracy or question the use of the phraseology within it, or, even more worryingly, question the meaning of some of the paragraphs. The result? A wholly inconsistent witness who can be torn apart by even a mediocre Barrister...
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Read more (PIBULJ subscribers only)...
Disclosure, Suicide and Unfairness: Learning From Lagos - Neil Davy, Serjeants’ Inn Chambers
02/12/13. R (on the application of Evandro Lagos) v HM Coroner for the City of London and Anele Austin [2013] EWHC 423 (Admin). The deceased died from severe head injuries sustained after falling from a walkway onto the ground below at the Barbican Centre in Central London. The deceased had a history of depression, anxiety and suicidal thoughts and there was no evidence of anyone else being involved. There were no witnesses to the fall, but there was...
Image cc flickr.com/photos/fsse-info/3231564668/
Difficult Decisions - Tim Hirst, Parklane Plowden Chambers
01/12/13. The conflicting Judicial approach to limitation in professional liability cases is revealed clearly in the Court of Appeal decision in Berney -v- Saul [2013] EWCA Civ. 640. This arose out of a mishandled personal injury claim arising out of an RTA on 20th April 1999. The Claim Form was issued at the last gasp on 12th April 2002 and was directed to an incorrectly named Defendant. The Claim Form was finally re-issued on...
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A Defendant's Nightmare? - Roderick Abbot, 1 Chancery Lane
29/11/13. Sarah Davison would normally get to her desk by 6 a.m., work for twelve hours and often head out thereafter to meet and entertain clients. Sleep felt like it was secondary to achievement. She worked in a macho environment and her boss was a man who, in the words of Andrews J, “does not suffer fools gladly, or indeed at all”. But Mrs Davison was well-paid: at the time she left on maternity leave to have her first child she was earning over £200,000 a year. When, after giving birth to that child, she suffered a career-ending injury as a result of clinical negligence, the resulting claim was always going to be of the size that makes defendants and their insurers wake up in a cold sweat in the middle of the night...
Image ©iStockphoto.com/bluestocking
More Articles...
- The Skills Required to Represent Claimants - Bill Braithwaite QC, Head of Exchange Chambers
- The New Coroner’s Rules: A Summary of Key Changes - Anna Midgley, Albion Chambers
- Accidents at Sea: the Limitation Traps for Claimants and Defendants - Ian Miller, 1 Chancery Lane
- PI Practitioner, November 2013
![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)
