April 2015 Contents
 Welcome to the April 2015 issue of PI Brief Update Law Journal. Click the relevant links below to read the articles and take the CPD quiz. Please remember to fill in our quick feedback form after you have finished. CPD Quiz The quiz is designed to meet the CPD requirements of the SRA and the BSB. It provides 1.5 hours accredited distance learning. Law Brief Publishing Ltd is registered with the Solicitors Regulation Authority for England and Wales, ref EGB/LBPL, and with the Bar Standards Board. The CPD is also valid for cILEX (formerly ILEX) members and for members of the Chartered Insurance Institute (CII). Please check with the relevant organisation for full details of their CPD rules. Take the CPD Quiz Feedback Form CPD Information
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| Personal Injury Articles | |
 Future Developments in RTA Claims, Reducing Fraud and Costs - Andrew Mckie, Clerksroom Chapter Ten from the book 'RTA Personal Injury Claims Post Jackson: A Practical Guide' by Andrew Mckie. The landscape for RTA PI claims has changed dramatically since 2010. We have been through the portal changes and fixed costs changes but the MOJ is not prepared to leave matters there... |
 Lakin v Lawrence: An Overtaking Case in the Court of Appeal - Jerome Burch, Bartletts Solicitors Road traffic cases are notoriously difficult to appeal due to the generally factual nature of the disputes and a recent case only serves to highlight this point. In Lakin v Lawrence [2015] EWCA Civ 272, the Court of Appeal dismissed an appeal in a road traffic case in which a driver was found to have been negligent when he went to overtake another car on a country lane... |
 Editorial: Late Evidence and Applications - Aidan Ellis, Temple Garden Chambers It is well known that after the Jackson reforms and, particularly, after Mitchell, those who overlook deadlines and procedural rules can expect less sympathy from the Courts. But there is at least one area in which the rules are still sometimes disregarded, often without sanction. Where evidence in support of or in opposition to an application is... |
 Stevens v Equity: [2015] EWCA Civ 92: The Lowest Reasonable Rate - Vaughan Jacob, Lamb Chambers So. Farewell then, Darren Bent. No longer grabbing national headlines for his Premiership footballing prowess (he is currently on loan to Championship outfit Derby County), citation of Bent's name in county courts up and down the county is also soon likely to cease... |
 A PI Cut Price System - Alan Care, Thomson Snell & Passmore "In matters of truth and justice, there is no difference between large and small problems, for issues concerning the treatment of people are all the same" - Albert Einstein... |
 Credit Hire & Caveat Emptor: Let the Buyer Beware - Geoffrey Simpson-Scott, Colemans-ctts The recent case of Karl Stevens v Equity Syndicate Management Ltd [2015] EWCA Civ 93 has generated a considerable amount of comment. Much of this is understandably along the lines of the new approach to valuing the spot rate/Basic Hire Charge sounding the death knell for Credit Hire Organisations... |
 After Stevens v Equity: So Where Is Credit Hire Now? - Gary Herring, Horwich Farrelly Solicitors As the dust settles on the landmark decision of the Court of Appeal in Stevens v Equity [2015] EWCA Civ 93 (the facts of and decision in which are discussed elsewhere in this Journal), the focus now turns firstly to how the judgment is interpreted by the County Courts, and secondly... |
 Part 36, Costs Offers and the New Rules - Matthew Hoe, Jaggards & Taylor Rose Law Is it a square peg for a round hole? Part 36 was conceived primarily as a tool for damages offers. Recent cases have clarified how Part 36 operates in costs negotiations and detailed assessment proceedings, where it has been more widely used since CPR 47.20 (introduced as part of the Jackson reforms on 1 April 2013) adapted Part 36 for the purposes of costs cases... |
 Insurers Win the Latest Round in Credit Hire Match - Jasmine Murphy, Hardwicke The Insurers have won the most recent bout in what has been an ongoing slugfest between them and credit hire organisations (CHOs) for more than 20 years. The Court of Appeal has given guidance about calculating the basic hire rate (BHR) which favours the Insurers... |
 Clarification on Annonymity for Children and Protected Parties in Personal Injury Cases - Elizabeth-Anne Gumbel QC & Henry Witcomb, 1 Crown Office Row In the case of JXMX (by her mother and litigation friend AXMX) V Dartford and Gravesend NHS Trust [2015] EWCA Civ 96, the Court of Appeal identified the issue before them as follows... |
 A Change to the Law of Causation in Asbestos-Related Lung Cancer Cases: Heneghan (Deceased) v Manchester Dry Docks & Others [2014] EWHC 4190 - Kate Boakes, 12 King's Bench Walk Lung cancer has several possible causes, including exposure to asbestos dust. Medical science cannot prove whether a particular case of lung cancer was caused by asbestos exposure rather than, say, smoking. Nor can it prove that it was caused by asbestos from a particular source where there have been multiple sources... |
 The Regulatory Burden of Meeting With Clients in Their Homes - Alex Bagnall, Just Costs Solicitors Alex Bagnall analyses the impact on solicitors of consumer protection legislation following Cox v Woodlands Manor Care Home Ltd (2015) (unreported) in which the Court of Appeal delivered a judgment which will be unwelcome to many solicitors... |
 Limitation in Cases of Alleged Abuse - Geoff Owen, Parabis Group Until 2008, victims of deliberate assault were subject to a strict limitation period of six years in which to bring a claim. This meant that any child who was sexually abused ran out of time when they reached their 24th birthday... |
 Director's Liability for Lack of Employer's Liability Insurance - Douglas McGregor, Brodies LLP The decision by the Inner House of the Court of Session to allow the defender's appeal in Campbell v Peter Gordon Joiners Ltd & Anr [2015] CSIH 11 has opened up the possibility that the Supreme Court will now be asked to consider the rule laid down in Richardson v Pitt-Stanley [1995] QB 123. The Court of Appeal in England decided in that case that a director cannot be found personally liable to meet... |
 Vnuk and the MIB: Misapplying the Law for Over 20 Years - Stephanie Price, Bolt Burdon Kemp The judgment in the case of Damijan Vnuk v Zavarovalcina Triglav C-162/13 (Vnuk) was handed down in September 2014, however personal injury practitioners and insurers alike continue to consider the implications of this important and wide ranging ruling. I intend to review the impact of this ruling on accidents involving motor vehicles... |
 Records of Inquest: The Conclusion Is... Use Your Boxes Correctly and Keep It Succinct - Lisa Dobie, 1 Chancery Lane For those of you practising in coronial law, the Chief Coroner's Guidance No. 17 was published on 30 January 2015. It contains some useful and succinct guidance on short form conclusions and narrative conclusions, including... |
 Rad Hamed: Club Breached its Duty - Diane Rostron, Linder Myers Solicitors Diane Rostron, medical negligence partner at Linder Myers Solicitors, talks about her recent case against Tottenham Hotspur and a Harley Street cardiologist... |
 Local Standards: Don't Let Them Cat-ch You Out - Tom Collins, 1 Chancery Lane In Lougheed v On the Beach (2014) EWCA Civ 1538 the Court of Appeal reaffirmed the importance of the Claimant adducing evidence of local safety standards in the context of package holiday claims. The recent decision of the High Court of Northern Ireland in Kerr v Thomas Cook [2015] NIQB 9 provides a colourful (and not unamusing) example... |
 Stevens v Equity Syndicate Management Ltd; Is the "Hammer Blow" to the Credit Hire Companies the End of the Matter? - Georgina Crawford, Farrar's Building This significant appellate decision handed down at the end of February impacts upon the main arguments going to the issue of "rate" in credit hire claims which are routinely heard in the county courts. The last time the Court of Appeal was tasked with dealing with a rates issue was in Darren Bent v Highways and Utilities Construction (No. 2) [2011] EWCA Civ 1384 and therefore this area has remained... |
 Low Cost Arbitration Instead of Expensive Civil Justice? - Matthew Chapman, 1 Chancery Lane At a recent seminar a solicitor, with whom I was discussing the recent (rather extraordinary) hike in Court fees, mentioned an initiative which Andrew Ritchie QC has pioneered. Arising out of concerns about recent Government "reforms" to civil justice as these deal with... |
 Rad Hamed - Mark Bowman & Rebecca Drew, Fieldfisher In August 2006 at the age of 17, Radwan was playing his first game for Tottenham Hotspur's youth team when he suffered a devastating heart attack six minutes into the game. Radwan's career was tragically brought to an abrupt end as he suffered catastrophic brain damage as a result of oxygen starvation... |
 Retiring Gracefully ... and Gradually? - Simon Readhead QC, 1 Chancery Lane Most personal injury lawyers think a lot about retirement. This can be their own, in my case usually when grappling with costs budgets, but is more likely to be that of the party whose claim they are advancing or opposing. The date of retirement is crucial to the value of a loss of earnings claim... |
 A Budgeting Lesson Learnt - Johanne Johnston, John M Hayes Coulson J and the case of CIP Properties (AIPT) Ltd v Galliford Try Infrastructure Ltd & Ors continue to provide guidance on the implementation of Costs Management Rules. The most recent instalment highlights the importance of producing a reliable and accurate Costs Budget... |
 Friends, Romans, Personal Injury Lawyers! - Simon Readhead QC, 1 Chanery Lane Or so Mark Antony might have said if Shakespeare had been around to reflect on the amendments to the CPR which come into effect on 6 April 2015. All the talk is of the changes to Part 36. But what of the new Part 87 which is being introduced as part of the continuing drive to replace Latin terms with simpler English language... |
 Summary of Recent Cases, April 2015 Here is a summary of the recent notable court cases over the past month. |
 PI Practitioner, April 2015 Each issue a particular topic is highlighted, citing some of the useful cases and other materials in that area. This month: The New Zealand Accident Act 2001 and PI claims brought by New Zealanders abroad. |
![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)
