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January 2018 Contents

Welcome to the January 2018 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.

 

Personal Injury Articles
Mind the Gap: Perversity as a Point of Appeal, an Insurmountable Chasm? - Liam Ryan, 7 Bedford Row
Liam Ryan considers the the recent Court of Appeal decision of if Whiting v First/Keolis Transpennine Ltd [2018] EWCA Civ 4 and what iot means more generally Appellants seeking to bring an appeal based on the difficult ground of perversity...
Fixed Recoverable Costs: No Advocacy, No Fee! - Chris Boxall, Park Square Barristers
Christopher Boxall discusses the first instance decision in Crawshaw v Alfred Dunhill Limited (County Court Sheffield, 16.11.2017 before District Judge Bellamy)...
Withdrawing Admissions: Wood v Days Healthcare UK Limited [2017] EWCA Civ 2097 - Shaun Ferris, Crown Office Chambers
The Court of Appeal has considered the position where a defendant (D1), presented with a claim that is said to be of low value, admits liability but is later confronted with a significant increase in the value of the claim...
Contribution and Apportionment: Unruly Horses? - Charles Feeny & Sam Irving, Complete Counsel
"Public policy is a very unruly horse, and when once you get astride, you never know where it will carry you." These oft repeated words were those of Borough J in Richardson v. Mellish1 in 1824 and are the first reference to the much repeated maxim, that resorting to public policy is equivalent to mounting an unruly horse...
Counterintuitive or Commonsensical? Case Comment on Meadows v Khan [2017] EWHC 2990 (QB) - Lucile Taylor
The question posed by Meadows v Khan [2017] EWHC 2990 (QB) was whether a mother who consults a doctor with a view to avoiding the birth of a child with a particular disability, as opposed to the birth of any child, could recover damages for the additional costs associated with another, unrelated disability. The answer given by Mrs Justice Yip was a counterintuitive, yet commonsensical yes...
A Doctor's Duty to Advise: Raul Guiu Gallardo v Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust - Paul Sankey, Enable Law
The Supreme Court in Montgomery v Lanarkshire Health Board redefined a doctor's duty in advising patients and obtaining consent to treatment. The new measure of adequate advice was what a reasonable patient like this patient would expect to be told. It was no longer the Bolam test of what a responsible body of doctors would advise...
Psychiatric Damage Claims Arising from Disciplinary Proceedings - Angela Williams, Browne Jacobson LLP
The recent High Court case of Marsh v Ministry of Justice (2017) provides that employers must give consideration to the effect on employee's mental health any suspension from work might have and highlights the importance of dealing promptly with misconduct and disciplinary issues...
Withdrawing Admissions: Wood v Days Healthcare UK Limited [2017] EWCA Civ 2097 - Shaun Ferris, Crown Office Chambers
The Court of Appeal has considered the position where a defendant (D1), presented with a claim that is said to be of low value, admits liability but is later confronted with a significant increase in the value of the claim...
PI Practitioner, January 2018
Each issue a particular topic is highlighted, citing some of the useful cases and other materials in that area. This month: Disclosure and the Small Claims Track: A Practice Note...
Driverless Cars, Artificial Intelligence... What Next? Online Dispute Resolution for Compensation Claims? - Tim Wallis, Trust Mediation
Question: Will online dispute resolution (ODR) make any headway with high volume - lower value compensation claims? The sceptic would say no, on the basis that many involved in the claims sector resist change, unless it is compulsory. I believe, however, that ODR is already having an impact in this sector and that there will be further significant developments. Here are my reasons...
Competition Heats Up in Personal Injury as Firms Look to Survive Upcoming Government Reforms - Qamar Anwar, First4Lawyers
It goes without saying that the years of disruption in personal injury (PI) practice looks set to continue unabated - though the appointment of yet another new Lord Chancellor may slow things down as he gets his feet under the table, the thrust of Ministry of Justice policy is likely to be unaffected. That would mean publication at last of the Civil Liability Bill and a consultation on Lord Justice Jackson's recommendations to extend the application of fixed recoverable costs in the coming months...
Summary of Recent Cases, January 2018
Here is a summary of the recent notable court cases over the past month...
Medico-Legal Articles, Edited by Dr Hugh Koch
Why Is Psychology Important to Understanding Law? - Prof. Hugh Koch, Dr Tracey Jackson, Dr Victoria Byram & Dr Claire Wilson
Human factors affect the process of civil litigation and the behaviour of the various participants, claimants, lawyers, experts, barristers and judiciary. Psychology, since its inception as a body of science, has offered a variety of different branches, namely, clinical, forensic, social/communication and organisational, to help understand psychological and social factors in every day life. Each of these affects the process of civil litigation in many different ways. For example...
Clinical Negligence Medicine by Dr Mark Burgin
Short Notes on Nursing Home Claims 2018 - Dr Mark Burgin
Dr Mark Burgin BM BCh (oxon) MRCGP considers the elements that should be included in a primer for clinical negligence cases involving nursing home claims...
Short Notes on Surgical Error 2018 - Dr Mark Burgin
Dr Mark Burgin BM BCh (oxon) MRCGP considers the elements that should be included in a primer for clinical negligence cases involving surgical error... preview http://www.pibulj.com/content/law-journal-summaries/news-category-4/4448-short-notes-on-surgical-error-2018-dr-mark-burgin

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