January 2016 Contents
 Welcome to the January 2016 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 PI Brief Update Law Journal (PIBULJ) is accredited by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (ref EGB/LBPL) and the Bar Standards Board (provider ID: 2177). The CPD is also valid for CILEx (formerly ILEX) members and for members of the Chartered Insurance Institute. The quiz can provide 1.5 hours of CPD under the hours system. See our CPD Info page for further details including recent changes to the CPD system. Please check with the relevant organisations for full details of their CPD rules. Take the CPD Quiz Feedback Form CPD Information
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| Personal Injury Articles, January 2016 | |
 Pre-Emptive and Tactical Action in Stress at Work Claims - Liam Ryan, Ely Place Chambers The process of litigation by its very nature, is unpredictable and stressful. The statutory instruments which govern the employment relationship, whilst at their core seeking to regulate, protect and assist both employees and employers are subject to interpretation and practically, when applied to the unique and varied facts of each individual case, result in the outcome rarely being certain due to the number of moving parts that comprise a claim... |
 Editorial: Civil Claims for Assault - Aidan Ellis, Temple Garden Chambers It is inherently difficult to establish guilt beyond reasonable doubt before a jury where the evidence is limited and turns on one person’s account. One possible solution for victims is to explore the possibility of making a civil claim against their assailant for battery... |
 Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority v First-tier Tribunal (Social Entitlement Chambers) and Kenneth Clifford [2015] EWCA Civ 1329 - Sophie Beesley, Old Square Chambers Under the Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme 2008, minor multiple injuries can only qualify for compensation if they necessitate at least two visit to or by a medical practitioner within six weeks of the incident. The Court of Appeal accepted the argument of the CICA, represented by Ben Collins of Old Square Chambers, that the Scheme requires actual attendance, rather than the fact of an injury which merely warrants... |
 Top Personal Injury Decisions of the Court of Appeal in 2015 - Ian Miller, 1 Chancery Lane The Court of Appeal made a number of important decisions in 2015 in the field of personal injury. Ella Davis and Ian Miller review some of the most important of them for the PI practitioner. They cover psychiatric damage, causation, quantum, the Athens Convention, jurisdiction, duties of care, vicarious liability and non-delegable duties... |
 Twenty Five Years Plus - Deborah Evans, APIL Chief Executive After 25 years of turning up to almost every fight, if not all, on behalf of injured people, it would now be inconceivable for APIL not to be involved when the personal injury landscape is facing change... |
 Scottish Accidents, English Defendants: When Always Isn’t - Philip Mead, Old Square Chambers Should proceedings be issued in England or Scotland where the accident occurred in Scotland, but the Defendant is domiciled in England and Wales? Does the principle of forum non conveniens, which does not apply to cases involving a European domiciled party, apply to intra-UK litigation? Does it matter that the Defendant entered an appearance before raising the issue of proper forum? |
 Pedestrians On the Pavement v Buses - Gemma Witherington, Hardwicke It has been widely reported in recent years that London buses are involved in two accidents per day. Some of these accidents are claims by pedestrians who have been struck whilst on the pavement by a bus. The recent case of Whyte v Bluebird Buses Ltd [2015] CSOH 56 is a helpful reminder of the principles to apply when considering a collision between a pedestrian on the pavement and a bus... |
 Qader v Esure: Ex-Protocol Claims Attract Fixed Costs Even on the Multi-Track - Martyn Griffiths, Hardwicke On 15th October 2015, HHJ Grant sitting in the County Court at Birmingham handed down judgment in Qader & Others v Esure Services Limited [2015] EWHC B18 (TCC) on an appeal concerning the scope of the fixed costs regime that applies to cases commenced under the Pre-Action Protocol for Low Value Personal Injury Claims in Road Traffic Accidents (“the RTA Protocol”). The case has potentially far reaching ramifications and will likely also apply to cases leaving the Employers’ Liability and Public Liability Protocol... |
 Vicarious Liability: Footballers, Assault and 'Initiation Ceremonies' - Gordon Exall, Zenith Chambers & Hardwicke It is well known that recently the Supreme Court heard a number of appeals in relation to vicarious liability, particularly for assaults by employees. While the decisions are pending it is useful to look at examples where these issues are being applied using the current law. The issue of vicarious liability for an “initiation ceremony” which involved intimate touching was considered by His Honour Judge Butler (sitting as a High Court judge) in GB -v- Stoke City Football Club Ltd [2015] EWHC 2862 (QB)... |
 Material Contribution: The Search for the Elusive Third Way - Charles Feeny & Sammy Nanneh, Contributing Editors at Pro-Vide Law A comprehensive definition of the term 'material contribution to damage' remains elusive. There are two essentially unproblematic ways in which the concept applies, but it appears that judges and academics are still seeking to elucidate a third way in which the term could be used... |
 Should Cycling Helmets Be Made Compulsory? - Colm Nugent, Hardwicke The apparently never-ending debate about whether cycling helmets should be mandatory for all cyclists resurfaced again with an article in the Guardian (12/10/15) looking at the different experiences of Seattle (which has made them compulsory) and Amsterdam (which has not)... |
 A Brief Review of the Research Findings of Increased Risk of Dementia in Association With a Traumatic Brain Injury - Dr Linda Monaci In civil law cases provisional damages can be awarded if the disease or deterioration is serious, which means beyond ordinary deterioration and if the risk of disease or deterioration has a measurable chance of occurring. It therefore follows that Solicitors’ instructions usually require the instructed experts of the field - usually Neurologists, Neuropsychologists and Neuropsychiatrists – to also comment on whether... |
 Quantity Not Quality - Ella Davis, 1 Chancery Lane The decision of Foskett J in Reaney v University Hospital of North Staffordshire NHS Trust [2014] EWHC 3016 (QB)(rightly) caused some excitement in the legal blogosphere when it was handed down in October 2014. It appeared that he had extended the familiar eggshell skull rule by holding that a Defendant who had injured a woman with pre-existing care needs was liable to compensate for her full care needs not just the additional needs. That decision has now been overturned by... |
 The Bluffer’s Guide to Billett v MOD [2015] EWCA Civ 773 - Jasmine Murphy, Hardwicke In July 2015 a decision was published that took PI practitioners back over 40 years; to a time before some of us were born and Smith v Manchester awards. In case you missed it, here are the key aspects which emerge from the decision, which you need to know... |
 CPR 35.1: When Is Expert Evidence ‘Reasonably Required’? Part 2 - Tom Collins, 1 Chancery Lane The second case dealing with the proper approach to applications under r. 35.1 is Nuemann v Camel [2015] LTL 29/10/15. In this case, the claimant had been injured in a road traffic accident caused by the defendant's negligent driving and liability was not disputed. The claimant had a pre-existing condition, osteogenesis imperfecta, which had caused her bones to fracture as a teenager... |
 Escaping the QOWCS Web - Jasmine Murphy, Hardwicke One of the effects of QOWCS has been to encourage claimants to bring personal injury claims with only very modest prospects of success because they have the security of QOWCS protection. Without the need to obtain and retain after the event insurance, often the merits of a case are never properly considered or monitored as the case continues... |
 Autumn Statement for PI Lawyers - Ella Davis, 1 Chancery Lane The government has released a summary of the Autumn Statement with 20 Key Announcements, the last of which will be of great interest to personal injury lawyers. It reads as follows... |
 T’is the Season to Be Techie - Simon Readhead QC, 1 Chancery Lane This is the time of year for families... and for gadgets. Lots of them! In particular, smartphones. An average 65% of children in the UK aged between 8 and 11 now have their own smartphone... |
 Summary of Recent Cases, January 2016 Here is a summary of the recent notable court cases over the past month. |
 PI Practitioner, January 2016 Each issue a particular topic is highlighted, citing some of the useful cases and other materials in that area. This month: Defendant's costs in claims which no longer continue under the RTA Protocol. |
| An Update from North of the Border, Edited by David Stihler, Brodies LLP | |
 A Look at the New Fatal Accident Inquiries Legislation in Scotland - Jonathan Cornwell, Brodies Fatal Accident Inquiries featured prominently in the Scottish mainstream media during 2015. Following the tragic events of 22nd December 2014 (when a bin lorry collided with pedestrians in Glasgow city centre killing 6 people and injuring 15 others), the decision of the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service not to prosecute the driver and the subsequent Fatal Accident Inquiry meant that the subject was rarely far from the headlines... |
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![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)
