PI Brief Update

November 2011 Summary

NEWSLETTER

Industry News
Summary of Recent Cases - Substantive Law
Summary of Recent Cases - Costs
Summary of Recent Cases - Civil Procedure
PI Practitioner

LAW JOURNAL

Editorial: What’s the Fuss About Litigants in Person? - Aidan Ellis, Temple Garden Chambers

Personal Injury Articles

The Dangers of Organised Sport - Tim Kevan, Editorial
The Court of Appeal has made some useful comments as to the standard of care expected of a rugby club organizing a training session which may well have wider application to other sports and events.

The Increasing Rights of Policy Holders Under BTE Legal Expense Insurance Contracts - Ann Macey, 12 King's Bench Walk 14.11.11. There have been more developments to the law concerning the rights of policyholders to appoint their representatives under BTE legal expense insurance contracts.
In Webster Dixon & ors v Equity Syndicate & ors [2011] EWHC 2661 Burton J held that 1) it was contrary to European and domestic law for an insurer to refuse a clients’ request for a non-panel solicitor on the basis that the solicitor charged more than the insurers rates for non-panel solicitors, and 2) that in appropriate cases the policy holder also had the right to change lawyers.

Acceleration of Symptoms Approach Revisited - Editorial
Lawyers may be missing a trick by not investigating the percentage chances of injuries occurring in the future following a recent case in the Court of Appeal. It is commonplace for a personal injury dispute to boil down to one between the two medical experts with one suggesting that the accident merely accelerated an injury by say two years and the other expert either denying that the injury would have happened at all but for the accident or alternatively that the figure for acceleration is perhaps say, five or ten years. Just such a dispute arose in the case of Smithurst v Sealant Construction Services Ltd [2011] EWCA Civ 1277.

Credit Hire Articles

Credit Hire: The Cost of Bent Metal - Jason Prosser, Credit Hire Advocacy Services
On 24th November 2011 the Court of Appeal handed down a single judgment, [2011] EWCA Civ 1384, in two cases, Pattni v First Leicester Buses and Bent v Highways and Utilities Construction, of considerable interest to those involved in credit hire litigation.

Local Authority Liability, Edited by Daniel Tobin, 12 King’s Bench Walk

Cherwell District Council v. Naveed Anwar [2011] EWHC 2943 (Admin) - Daniel Tobin, 12 King’s Bench Walk
This case involves consideration of a local authority’s licensing guidelines, the extent to which an applicant’s personal circumstances might be relevant to an assessment of whether he was a fit and proper person to hold a licence as a hackney and private hire driver, and whether those personal circumstances might justify a departure from the guidelines.

PI Travel Law, Edited by Katherine Deal, 3 Hare Court

No “pick and mix” between English and foreign law in fatal accident claims - Dan Clarke, 3 Hare Court
In Cox v Ergo Versicherung AG [2011] EWHC 2806 (QB) the High Court (Sir Christopher Holland) has handed down an important decision on the scope of application of the Fatal Accidents Act 1976 in claims involving accidents overseas.

Medico-Legal Articles, Edited by Dr Hugh Koch

Work place stress or anger: was it a trauma or just a grievance? - Hugh Koch, Patrick Kennedy and Rhiain Morris
Providing medico-legal evidence in workplace ‘stress’ cases presents experts with the challenge of reliably assessing the claimants’ experience of ‘stress’ and differentiating between psychological and social ‘symptoms’ which may meet the criteria for a recognised psychological disorder, and experiences of anger, hostility and resentment which are more consistent with a ‘grievance’ than a ‘psychiatric injury’.

Bed Wetting: A sign of Trauma - Dr Kim Whitaker & Dr Gerrard Burrell-Hodgson
Wetting the bed is a common problem, particularly amongst pre-schoolers and young school aged children. It is a milestone that most children have achieved by the age of two and a half, but for some children this can occur much later in life with 25% of four year olds wetting the bed and 1% of children still wetting the bed at the age of fifteen. There seems to be family factors at work, with bed wetting being more common in the children of parents who wet the bed when they were young. The diagnostic term for wetting the bed is Enuresis and is defined in DSM-IV as...

Charon QC

Charon QC, November 2011
Old Square barrister saves a life on his way to court

BabyBarista

BabyBarista, November 2011
Poppycock and moonshine