PI Brief Update

29 July 2009 Summary

NEWSLETTER

LAW JOURNAL

Personal Injury Articles

Mitigation: Offers of a Free Vehicle. - Aidan Ellis, 1 Temple Gardens
This is the first in a series of articles addressing recent credit hire decisions. It concerns the Court of Appeal decision in Copley v Lawn, which considered (1) whether it was a failure to mitigate for a Claimant to reject a Defendant’s offer of a free replacement vehicle and (2) if it was, what is the appropriate measure of damages.

CPR 45 Part II Predictative costs: What to do if... - Amy Berry, 3 Pump Court
You have not reached agreement as to who is to pay predictive costs...

Working Out Work Equipment - Lisa Sullivan, Cloisters
The House of Lords considered the question of what was “work equipment” in the case of Spencer-Franks v Kellogg Brown & Root last year. Having decided what can be “work equipment” the question of what work equipment employers are liable for came before the House of Lords in the case of Smith v Northamptonshire County Council [2009] UKHL 27 in February this year with the decision coming out in May.

Interim and Periodical Payments: Guidance from the Court of Appeal - Mark Hill QC, Pump Court Chambers
How should the Court quantify the appropriate level of an interim payment when the ultimate award will probably comprise an element taking the form of periodical payments? Might a case management decision have the effect of fettering the discretion of the trial judge? This was the conceptual issue faced by the Court of Appeal in the recent case of Eeles v Cobham Hire Services Limited (2009) EWCA Civ 204.

PI Travel Law, Edited by Katherine Deal, 3 Hare Court

Aviation Accidents - Does a Crash Always Mean Negligence? - Andrew Young, 3 Hare Court
For UK citizens who are involved in an air incident which leads to death or personal injury, any claim against the carrier is likely to be covered by the strict liability provisions of the Montreal Convention (subject to the right of the carrier to limit its liability to 100,000 SDR on proof that loss was not caused by negligence on the part of the carrier) or the similar no fault provisions of EU Regulation 889/2002 on Air Carrier Liability...

Medico-Legal Articles, Edited by Dr Hugh Koch

It helps to be happy at work! - Dr Hugh Koch
An article in the Psychologist (November, 2007 p655) cites a study of employees in 49 different countries that indicated that happier, more experienced individuals tended to show greater commitment to the organisations they work for...

Mediation & ADR Articles, Edited by Tim Wallis, Trust Mediation Ltd

Understanding Mediator Services in Personal Injury Litigation - Philip Hesketh, Hesketh Mediation
Few people outside the legal world have any idea what mediation involves and within the profession the assumption is that I just mediate – meaning act as a neutral facilitator at settlement negotiation meetings. Some mediators offer a much wider range of services and this article examines one, which is of interest to personal injury litigators and their clients.

Charon QC

Charon QC, July 2009
Good time to be a lawyer?