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September 2018 Contents

Welcome to the September 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
Pleadings and fundamental dishonesty: Howlett affirmed as film director's compensation claim is dismissed - Jeff Turton, Weightmans LLP
David Pinkus v Direct Line [2018] EWHC 1671 is an example of another claim being dismissed under section 57 Criminal Justice and Courts Act 2015. The claimant raised a preliminary issue as to whether the defendant should be prevented from arguing the claim was dishonest at all...
FREE BOOK CHAPTER from 'A Practical Guide to Industrial Disease Claims' by Andrew Mckie & Ian Skeate
Chapter Two - The Portals and Fixed Portal Costs in ELD Claims. The Low Value Portals in Employers Liability Claims Came into effect for any claim where the accident date is on or after 31 July 2013. The purpose of this Chapter is to examine the most important aspects of the Portals in the context of Low Value Personal Injury claims, for claims that start off with the Low Value Portal but then exit the Portal...
Can an 8-year old child be contributory negligent? - Ian Peters, Anthony Gold
The short answer is yes, but that was not the finding of Mrs Justice Yip when she handed down her Judgement in the case Master Caine Ellis v Mr Paul Kelly and Mrs Violet Ellis on 31 July 2018...
Irving v Morgan Sindall PLC [2018] EWHC 1147 (QB) - Sharon Hughes, 43templerow
The recent appeal judgment in Irving v Morgan Sindall PLC [2018] EWHC 1147 (QB) by Mr Justice Turner is greatly appreciated for bringing much needed clarity over two issues credit hire practitioners regularly battle with: (1) Where is the line drawn for impecuniosity to be established; and (2) Must a claimant have a personal liability to pay the hire charges in order for it to be recoverable from the defendant?
When an accident is just an accident: first judicial guidance on ERRA - Seema Bains, DWF
Cockerill v CXK Ltd & Artwise Community Partnership, High Court (QB), 17 May 2018 - Seema Bains Partner in DWF's London office and Nigel Lewers of 12 King's Bench Walk acted for an employer and their insurers, in what we believe to be the first reported case to consider the application of s.69 of the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act 2013...
Absent Witnesses and Adverse Inferences - Claire Christopholus, Hill Dickinson LLP
Even during an uncomplicated surgical admission, a patient can expect to see a host of professionals, including nursing staff, the junior and senior surgical team and anaesthetists, all of whom are on regular shift rotation. The idea that the failure to call the entire medical cast as witnesses might lead to adverse inferences at Trial would present defendants in clinical negligence claims with an obligation so disproportionate as to be ridiculous...
McDermott v InHealth Limited - Adam Weitzman QC, 7BR
The Claimant in this case was a professional boxer licenced by the British Board of Boxing Control. He was obliged to undergo annual brain imaging in order to ensure that he was fit to fight. The imaging was arranged by InHealth Ltd, the Second Defendant (D2). D2 had also...
Marketing for PI Lawyers in Challenging Times, ROI and Why Content is Still King - Carl Waring, Aware Marketing
For Personal Injury solicitors and barristers, these are increasingly difficult times. They have been so, ever since LASPO 2012 came into force on 1st April 2013 and the screw has been continuously tightening for claimant PI solicitors with referral fee bans, the slashing of RTA portal fees...
Analysis Shows Increased Cash Flow Troubles for PI Firms - Norman Kenvyn, VFS Legal Funding
Running a personal injury law firm has never been so hard. With regulatory changes eating into profit and cash flow stymied by the slow billing process in cases, it is no surprise that many are reportedly teetering on a cliff edge...
Percuatneous Vertebroplasty: Too Much Information? - Ryan Harvey, Bolt Burdon Kemp
It's no secret that any treatment, be it surgical or conservative, may provide no therapeutic benefit to the patient. In light of a recent study into the efficacy of a routine treatment for osteoporotic spinal cord com-pression fractures, the question raised is if, and when, a patient should be informed of the existence of research which contradicts a traditionally held belief in a treatment's efficaciousness?...
Summary of Recent Cases, September 2018
Here is a summary of the recent notable court cases over the past month...
PI Practitioner, September 2018
Each issue a particular topic is highlighted, citing some of the useful cases and other materials in that area. This month: Advantage Insurance Company v Lee Stoodley and Anor [2018] EWHC 2135 (QB)...
Medico-Legal Articles, Edited by Dr Hugh Koch
Legal Mind Case and Commentary No 18: Stretching an expert's impartiality - Professor Hugh Koch
Case: Enders Stretch-v-Newcastle County Council - This case is of interest because of the issues of expert evidence which are of universal application. The case involves Newcastle City Council giving permission for a 'pop-up' shopping mall in Newcastle. Stretch, the appellant, appealed the decision to the Magistrates Court and introduced the evidence of an expert, (name provided)...
Clinical Negligence Medicine by Dr Mark Burgin
Medical Expert Report Audit (MERA): Opening the Black Box 2018 - Dr Mark Burgin
Dr Mark Burgin BM BCh (oxon) MRCGP explains how a solicitor can commission an audit on a medical report where they need metrics to confirm their professional impression...
Short Notes on Clinical Guidelines 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 clinical guidelines...

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