May 2021 Contents
 Welcome to the May 2021 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 | |
 PAL (A Child) v Davison, MacPherson & Colburn Ltd T/A Westbourne Motors and Aviva Insurance Ltd [2021] EWHC - Harry Peto, Temple Garden Chambers This was an application for an interim payment made on behalf of the Claimant, a 13-year-old girl who suffered severe brain injury. She already received payments totalling £1,025,000 and seeks a further sum of £2m to enable a property to be purchased and adapted to provide for long-term accommodation needs... |
 Costs: Ahmed and Panache Leasing Ltd v Ahmed [2021] EWHC 1021 (Ch) - Harry Peto, Temple Garden Chambers This was a dispute between two brothers, one being the director of the Second Claimant. The Claimants claimed that the Defendant, who used to work for the Second Claimant, misappropriated large sums of money and assets, while the Defendant counterclaimed for 50% of the shares in the Second Claimant. There was a rather involved procedural history... |
 Procedure: First instance County Court decision suggests that low value product liability claims fall within the EL/PL protocol - Paul Erdunast, Temple Garden Chambers X (a Minor) -v- MPL Home & Senza Group Ltd, 17 March 2021, as reported on Civil Litigation Brief - The RTA and EL/PL protocols provide fixed costs regimes as well as specific procedures that apply to claims within their ambit (the main feature of such claims being that they are valued at no more than £25,000). The Claimant in this case argued that product liability claims fall outside the EL/PL Protocol. DJ Vernon sitting at Cardiff disagreed... |
 Fundamentally dishonest claimant committed for contempt of court in circumstances where he falsely claimed that he did not know a so-called independent witness - Paul Erdunast, Temple Garden Chambers AXA Insurance UK PLC v Reid [2021] EWHC 993 (QB) - If you are advising a claimant in a case where there is an allegation of fundamental dishonesty, it is important in general to advise as to the possibility of being committed for contempt of court. However, such advice becomes more urgent if you are aware that a claimant in a factually analogous situation has in fact been committed for contempt. It is, of course... |
 Noise Immission Level (NIL) Part 2: NIL and the Coles Guidelines - Jim Hester, Parklane Plowden Chambers This article considers how the NIL is used within the Coles guidelines. This is the second article in this series in relation to NIL. The first article looked at the basics of the Noise Immission Level (NIL). Prior to the Coles Guidelines being widely adopted individual experts may have had different views as to the NIL needed for a NIHL diagnosis. For example, in the 'Nottinghamshire Textiles' litigation, one view that a NIL 'approaching 100' would be required... |
 Wormald v Ahmed - Part 36 Offers and the Death of a Protected Party - Paul Stagg, 1 Chancery Lane The sudden death of the claimant in a personal injury claim where there are substantial claims for future losses may cause the value of the claim to reduce radically overnight, leaving parties regretting that they made, rejected or accepted offers to settle. The judgment handed down on April 21st 2021 of Ms Clare Ambrose, sitting as a Deputy High Court judge, in Wormald v Ahmed [2021] EWHC 973 (QB) exposes some of the clashes of competing objectives of the CPR that can arise in such a situation... |
| Medico-Legal Articles, Edited by Dr Hugh Koch | |
 Legal Mind Case and Commentary No. 34: Fundamental dishonesty or genuine unreliability? - Koch HCH, Gill I and Wilson S This is the thirty-forth in a series of Case reports and Commentaries from Professor Koch and colleagues. Background and summary: A further clinical negligence case was summarised recently in PIBULJ with comments from Paul Erdunast, Temple Garden Chambers, London. Issues of unreliability and dishonesty were raised by the Court and lessons drawn. Relevant factors and lesson drawn are summarised here and additional commentary from Prof. Koch and colleagues provided... |
 Becoming more virus-resilient: tips on dealing with the COVID-19 coronavirus situation (updated) - Professor Hugh Koch Is it behind us? Oh yes, it is! Oh no, it isn't! 15 months on from the emergence of COVID-19 we are sensing and seeing a lot of recovery - lower infections and, thank goodness, lower death rates from COVID-19-related illness, high rates of vaccinations and some easing of the social and economic lockdown conditions... |
| Clinical Negligence Medicine by Dr Mark Burgin | |
 The MedCo Expert Audit - Dr Mark Burgin Dr Mark Burgin reflects on the audit process for DMEs who are going to accept instructions from unrepresented claimants (UC) and what can be learned... |
 Beyond the Pritchard Criteria: Fitness for Court - Dr Mark Burgin Dr Mark Burgin BM BCh (oxon) MRCGP discusses how understanding the Pritchard Criteria can assist solicitors whose clients are going to court... |
