June 2016 Contents
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Personal Injury Articles | |
![]() Claimant and Defendant lawyers are used to applying many EU-based regulations and Directives to personal injury claims. How could Brexit affect legal remedies for UK citizens? |
![]() On a clear summer evening the Defendant was riding his motorcycle down a long straight road in south London. His speed was about the 30mph, the limit for the road. Walking towards him on the pavement on the opposite side of the road was the Claimant... |
![]() Parker v Butler started life as a fairly unremarkable road traffic collision on the M18/M180 roundabout that occurred on 10 April 2013, and fell into that all too common category of cases "who changed lanes"... |
![]() The Claimant was born by emergency Caesarean section at St George's Hospital on 25th January 2011. He suffered hypoxic ischaemic at birth leading to cerebral palsy... |
![]() Occupational Illness Lawyers Call For Urgent Government Action... |
![]() The appeal court has found that, even where a matter settles "at the door of the court" and so no effective trial has taken place, the fixed trial advocacy fee is recoverable under CPR Pt 45 Pt IIIA. The court further found that... |
![]() In the course of June so far, three of my trials have been vacated - two for lack of Court time and one converted to a 30 minute CMC because the trial bundle was filed one day late. On one further occasion... |
![]() In Hayden v Maidstone & Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust [2016] EWHC 1121 (QB) Foskett J, albeit with "considerable misgiving", allowed a Defendant to rely on surveillance footage that had been disclosed so late that it caused the trial date to be vacated. The decision is not so much of interest because of its outcome but for the judge's more general comments on the issue of when surveillance evidence might properly be served... |
![]() Having dealt with a number of cases involving loss of sight over the years, it was not until I had to visit the JC Guidelines for a case involving total sudden blindness to a teenage girl that I was acting for that it really sunk in to me how woefully inadequate damages for injuries are in the UK... |
![]() The recent Court of Appeal decision in Phillips v Willis [2016] EWCA Civ 401 has provided welcome clarity as to the fate of claims initially made through the RTA portal when the personal injury element has been resolved prior to litigation commencing at Stage 3, but a dispute as to low-value special damages remains live between the parties... |
![]() The need to prove that a claim for loss of earnings arises from the negligence complained of can be overlooked. A failure to consider the key issue of causation can lead to claims being made which, ultimately, cannot be proven. An example of this can be seen in the decision of Mr Justice Nicol in Manzi -v- King's College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust [2016] EWHC 1190 (QB)... |
![]() Qualified One-way Costs Shifting: does it apply to appeals? Yes, according to Edis J in Parker v Butler [2016] EWHC 1251 (QB), who held: If (as is likely to be the case here) the claimant's access to justice is dependent on the benefit of QOCS, that access will be significantly reduced if he is exposed to a risk as to the costs of any unsuccessful appeal which he may bring or... |
![]() The Deceased, male aged 50 at the date of the accident died in a tragic road traffic accident which occurred on 1 October 2011. The claim was brought by the Deceased's wife, who was appointed Administrator of the Deceased's estate and was the Claimant... |
![]() The Claimant, male aged 49 at the date of the accident was involved in a serious road traffic accident. The Claimant sustained soft tissue injuries to his lumbar spine and significant head injuries as a result of the accident. The Claimant went on to suffer post-traumatic epilepsy... |
![]() The Serious Injury Guide is a voluntary guide that applies to personal injury claims worth £250,000 or more. It does not apply to clinical negligence or asbestos related disease claims and doesn't affect a solicitor's duty to act in the best interests of his/her client. So far 13 insurers and 53 law firms have signed up to it... |
![]() In February 2013 nine-year-old Ella Kissi-Debrah from Hither Green in South London died after suffering a severe asthma attack. "Can the courts be used to establish that we have a human right to clean air?" asked Nick Robinson on the Today Programme... |
![]() Here is a summary of the recent notable court cases over the past month. |
![]() Each issue a particular topic is highlighted, citing some of the useful cases and other materials in that area. This month: QOCS protection for appeals. |
An Update from North of the Border, Edited by John Wilson & Lauren Pasi, Brodies LLP | |
![]() Riding on the winds of change in Scotland's civil courts reforms (with our special focus on personal injury), we have already seen the creation of the All-Scotland Sheriff (Personal Injury) Court, a new Sheriff Appeal Court and the increase of the jurisdictional limit for bringing cases in... |
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Medico-Legal Articles, Edited by Dr Hugh Koch | |
![]() This is the fourth in a series of Case reports and Commentaries from Dr Koch and colleagues. Attribution is complex and requires an assessment of plausibility, not just temporal linking. Case: Graves v Brouwer [2015] EWCA Civ 595... |
![]() Case: Gamsby v Rowland. County Court Birmingham 22/09/15. The claimant sought damage for personal injury following a road traffic accident. There was a difference of opinion between claimant and defendant over the circumstances of the accident... |