February 2017 Contents
 Welcome to the February issue of PI Brief Update Law Journal. Click the relevant links below to read the articles. CPD Note that there are no new monthly CPD quizzes since the SRA and the BSB have both updated their CPD schemes to eliminate this requirement. Reading PIBULJ articles can still help to meet your CPD needs. For further details see our CPD Information page.
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| Personal Injury Articles | |
 Hutton and others v CICA: Review of the UT's judicial review jurisdiction and out of time applications in criminal injury compensation claims - Owain Thomas QC, One Crown Office Row Hutton and others v Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority [2016] EWCA Civ 1305. A claim for criminal injuries compensation was brought almost 40 years out of time. CICA refused to waive the time limit, and the claimants appealed. Following a complex procedural history, the matter came before the Court of Appeal, which upheld the First-Tier Tribunal's decision in CICA's favour. The judgment of Gross LJ reviewed the Upper Tribunal's judicial review function in such cases, and considered the issues engaged by historical CICA claims... |
 FREE BOOK CHAPTER: Local Authority Services (From 'A Practical Guide to Personal Injury Trusts' by Alan Robinson) Under Section 9 of the Care Act 2014, local authorities in England are legally obliged to assess anyone who comes to their notice as being potentially in need of care and support due to a physical or mental impairment. This is the case irrespective of whether the authority thinks it is likely that the person will or will not qualify for any care and support, and also irrespective of the person's financial situation (section...) |
 How Not to Litigate in Catastrophic Personal Injury Claims - Bill Braithwaite QC, Head of Exchange Chambers Of course, one strong view is that you shouldn't litigate at all in major personal injury claims - ADR is so much more flexible, and allows the parties to control the process. However, some cases do seem to come to court, and I had a recent court experience - my first for a long time because, although I finalise about £50 million of claims a year, I rarely need to seek the court's help... |
 Emergency Care and Material Contribution in Dr Sido John v Central Manchester and Manchester Children's University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust - Katherine Galza, Kingsley Napley LLP This case began with Dr John sustaining a serious brain injury having fallen down the stairs to his flat. He remained in an unconscious state for some time before he was reached by paramedics, and when arriving at A&E he presented with a low GCS reading... |
 FREE BOOK CHAPTER: The Pre-Action Protocols (From 'A Practical Guide to Alternative Dispute Resolution in Personal Injury Claims: Getting the Most Out of ADR Post-Jackson' by Peter Causton, Nichola Evans, James Arrowsmith) The 6th April 2015 saw the introduction of new protocols for personal injury and clinical negligence claims dovetailing with increases in Court fees. The terms of the updated protocols are important for practitioners, whether acting for claimants or defendants, as there are some important changes and the protocols now have added "teeth"... |
 Wilkinson lives on in Crawley! - Ian Pennock, Park Lane Plowden Chambers The case of Wilkinson-v-City of York Council [2011] EWCA Civ 207 has rightly caused highway authorities difficulties in highway cases because it not only made a lack of resources irrelevant in considering a highway authority's section 58 defence. But also... |
 Harris v Miller - Victoria Brown, Pupil, Outer Temple Chambers Harris v Miller is one of the rare examples of successfully establishing negligence following a horsing accident. Such cases are notoriously difficult to win; the risk of injury being viewed by many as inherent in riding... |
 FREE BOOK CHAPTER: Liability of the Player to Spectator and Third Parties (From 'A Practical Guide to Personal Injuries in Sport' by Adam Walker & Patricia Leonard) In this section consideration is given to the circumstances in which a participant in a sporting event may be held liable to a spectator injured while attending an event. Such claims are commonly framed in negligence, with the operative allegation being that the participant failed to take reasonable care for the safety of the spectator rather than in trespass to the person... |
 Editorial: Statutory Damages for Injuries from Vaccinations - Aidan Ellis, Temple Garden Chambers An interesting recent case involving narcolepsy and the swine flu vaccine, Secretary of State for Work and Pensions v FG (on behalf of John) [2017] EWCA Civ 61, drew my attention to the Vaccine Damage Payments Act 1979. Provided certain conditions are met, that statute allows an individual who sustains a sufficiently severe injury following a vaccination to claim a lump sum payment from the government... |
 Navigating the Minefield: Claims in the Employment Tribunal, County Court and Abuse of Process - Liam Ryan, Ely Place Chambers Liam Ryan explores the recent decision of Manda v USB AG and how the doctrine of abuse of process can apply to Claimants who bring claims in the Employment Tribunal, and subsequent proceedings in the County or High Court for Stress at Work. He considers not only the pitfalls and dangers that can be created, but how they can be avoided... |
 FREE BOOK CHAPTER: The Severity of a Traumatic Brain Injury (From 'A Practical Guide to Subtle Brain Injury Claims' by Pankaj Madan) One Scale used to assess consciousness is called the Glasgow Coma Scale which is abbreviated in notes to ("GCS"). This is the most extensively used system for assessing the level of consciousness. The scale is based on the motor (M) verbal (V) and eye-opening (E) responses of the patient and is used to classify injury as "minor", "moderate" or "severe". The scale does not go to 0. The minimum score representing complete unconsciousness is 3. Traditional thinking is as follows... |
 Hetherington v The Trustees Thornberry Animal Sanctuary - Andrea Ribchester-Hodgson & Sarah Wright, Spencers Solicitors On 14 December 2013, H attended a jumble sale that was being held at the Defendant's animal sanctuary. He was a regular visitor and attended the jumble sale every week, but on the day of the accident was not familiar with most of the staff helping out... |
 Wood v TUI - Food poisoning in the Court of Appeal - Jack Harding, 1 Chancery Lane The Court of Appeal handed down judgment on 16th January 2017 in in Wood v TUI Travel PLC (2017) EWCA Civ 11, the first appellate authority on the liability of travel companies for gastric illness caused by alleged food poisoning... |
 Case Summary: C v Toma (D) - Emma Melia, Spencers Solicitors The Claimant 'E', aged 35 at the time of the accident, was injured after falling from a horse. E had attended 40-50 riding lessons over a 2 year period but was a still novice rider with little riding confidence. E had never been taught how to gallop... |
 Date of Knowledge and Limitation: Lewin v Glaxo, Case Report - Thomas Crockett, 1 Chancery Lane In cases concerning an allegation of bodily injury, time for the purposes of statutory limitation does not begin to run until the cause of action accrues or the date of knowledge of the alleged victim. The latter may be some months or years after the effluxion of the usual three year limitation period from the accrual of the cause of action. However it is rarely decades as it was in a recent case in the Queen's Bench Division... |
 Summary of Recent Cases, February 2017 Here is a summary of the recent notable court cases over the past month... |
 How to Measure Function: Disability Analysis Provides the Answer to Over Complicated Reports - Dr Mark Burgin Dr Mark Burgin BM BCh (oxon) MRCGP shows how disability analysis can provide better answers to the questions raised in occupational health and high value personal injury cases... |
 PI Practitioner, February 2017 Each issue a particular topic is highlighted, citing some of the useful cases and other materials in that area. This month: Credit hire at stage 3... |
| An Update from North of the Border, Edited by John Wilson, Brodies LLP | |
 An Update From North of the Border: Scottish Courts Continue to Take an Increasingly Strict Approach - Charlotte Edgar, Brodies LLP The Update this month focuses on two decisions that show that Scottish courts continue to take an increasingly strict approach. The first considers a refusal to set aside a default judgement; and very much serves as a warning to insurers and other large organisations. The latter deals with pre-litigation admissions, in the context of extending the period of limitation. The position looks to be quite different to the position in England & Wales, where my experience is that extensions are more common... |
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| Medico-Legal Articles, Edited by Dr Hugh Koch | |
 Legal Mind Case and Commentary No 12: Expert Evidence: Flawed or Dismissed. Why? - Dr Hugh Koch, Dr Chrissie Robertson & Dr Michelle Potts, Hugh Koch Associates Three cases are briefly summarised in order to highlight and illustrate issues pertaining to the robustness of expert evidence. Each case illustrates some aspect of why evidence was rejected by the courts. The commentary explores lessons to be learnt... |
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