PI Brief Update

25 January 2007 Summary

NEWSLETTER

LAW JOURNAL

Personal Injury Articles

Vicarious Liability: the Police - Aidan Ellis, 1 Temple Gardens
The test for whether an employer is vicariously liable is: “was the employee’s tort so closely connected with his employment that it would be fair and just to hold his employer vicariously liable”. As a result, the courts have tended to resolve borderline cases by analysing...

Part 36 payments, interest and patients - Ben Leech, 12 King’s Bench Walk
Who receives the interest on money paid into Court may be a matter of little practical significance, but this is obviously not always the case. Where the sum of money is large the interest accruing in even a relatively short period of time could be appreciable.

Assessing Career Loss, Herring Re-Visited - William Hoskins, 1 Temple Gardens
On 1st May 2006 Paul Kilcoyne reviewed in PIBULJ the cases in relation to this topic with particular reference to Herring -v- MOD.[2004] 1 All ER 44. On 10th May 2006 the Court of Appeal returned to this subject in the context of a claim for damages by a servicewoman who had injured her ankle in training so that a career in the Army was no longer open to her (Brown -v- MOD [2006] EWCA Civ. 546).

Maximising and Minimising Damages - William Latimer-Sayer, Cloisters
This article is the last in the series considering some of the arguments which may be deployed to maximise or minimise commonly occurring heads of loss.

Withdrawal of admissions - Eliot Woolf, Outer Temple Chambers & Christopher Wilson-Smith QC, Outer Temple Chambers
From 6th April 2007, CPR Part 14 will be amended to insert a new rule 14.1A covering admissions made before commencement of proceedings, redressing to some extent the disquiet that followed the decision in Sowerby v Charlton [2006] 1 WLR 568.

Clinical Negligence Articles

Over the counter - Cara Guthrie, Outer Temple Chambers
When you take a prescription to a pharmacist he is not just there to dispense. The pharmacist is professionally required also to consider whether the medication is suitable. In Horton v Evans & Lloyds Pharmacy Limited, CA, 20/11/2006, the Court of Appeal held that a failure not to consider this could amount to negligence.

Medico-Legal Articles, Edited by Dr Hugh Koch

Using computerized CBT for claimants with Depression: review of recent article by Whitfield et al [2006] - Dr Hugh Koch, Hugh Koch Associates
A new CBT based approach to providing therapeutic help to people with depression and anxiety has been trialed in Glasgow. Six hourly sessions of an interactive computerized CBT programme was offered .It was found that for those who used it there was a significant reduction in depressive symptoms.

Knowledge Brokers: A Welcome Role - Dr Michelle Tempest, Addenbrooke’s Hospital, Cambridge
It is well known that advancements in medicine bring challenges to ethical and legal boundaries as to how to apply the new medical knowledge. This week the High Court ruled that a woman in persistent vegetative state (pvs) could be given an experimental treatment, contrary to her family’s wishes.

Charon QC