PI Brief Update

20 October 2008 Summary

NEWSLETTER

LAW JOURNAL

Personal Injury Articles

Credit Hire and the Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations - Aidan Ellis, 1 Temple Gardens
Mention is occasionally made of The Unfair Terms in Consumer Contracts Regulations 1999 in credit hire cases and this article provides a brief rather than exhaustive guide to these regulations and how they might potentially apply.

Choice of Law in Tort: Overseas Accidents - Alan Saggerson, 1 Chancery Lane
ROME II, REGULATION (EC) No 864/2007 OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 11 July 2007 on the law applicable to non-contractual obligations. The implementation of EU Regulation 864/2007 has important implications for personal injury lawyers embroiled in or likely to become embroiled in European (EU) cross-border accident litigation.

Crofts v Murton: Life expectancy and multipliers - Sarah Fraser Butlin, Cloisters
Although it seems that something of a mountain was made out of a molehill, the recent case of Crofts v Murton (decided on 5 September 2008) provides a timely reminder for practitioners about which table to use from the Ogden tables when determining the appropriate multiplier for future losses where life expectancy has been shortened.

Closing the Door on Employers – The House of Lords Resets the Law on Work Equipment - Niazi Fetto, 2 Temple Gardens
In Spencer-Franks v Kellogg Brown & Root Ltd [2008] ICR 863, the House of Lords has considered the vexed question of what amounts to "work equipment" for the purposes of the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998, and in reaching its conclusions has torn to shreds the elaborate weave of exceptions to, and limitations upon, the definition of work equipment put in place over recent years by the Court of Appeal.

New Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme - Tabitha Nice, Stewarts Law
Having been the subject of considerable debate, the 2008 version of the Criminal Injuries Compensation scheme is due to come into force on 3rd November 2008. The new scheme will have no retrospective effect and will apply to all claims submitted on or after that date.

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

Rights of Disabled Passengers Travelling by Air - Katherine Deal, 3 Hare Court
People with disabilities or those of reduced mobility should find it considerably easier to make arrangements to travel by air since the full entry into force in July 2008 of Regulation (EC) No. 1107/2006 concerning the rights of disabled persons and persons with reduced mobility when travelling by air.

Clinical Negligence Articles

Clinical Negligence: Has the Defendant Made a "Full" Admission? - Rankeshwar Batta, Anthony Collins Solicitors LLP
Every clinical negligence practitioner knows that causation can be a particularly difficult issue with which to grapple and ultimately prove. To establish what actually has been caused by any breach can often be problematic and requires careful analysis by medical experts crucially at the exchange of expert evidence and joint statements stage of litigation.

Medico-Legal Articles, Edited by Dr Hugh Koch

Help-Seeking for Depression: The Role of Beliefs, Attitudes and Mood (Sherwood, Salkovskis & Rimes, 2007) - Dr Jacquie Hetherton, Hugh Koch Associates
Depression often occurs after traumatic events. Given its disabling and distressing nature it can therefore seem perplexing when claimants reporting high levels of symtomatology also state that they have not sought help for this from their GPs. Such an anomaly can lead some to conclude that the claimant must therefore be exaggerating their symptoms...

Coronial Law Articles, Edited by Bridget Dolan, 3 Serjeants’ Inn

Required elements of common law corporate manslaughter. The use of narrative verdicts where a short from verdict may be insufficient to describe the circumstances of the death. - Bridget Dolan, 3 Serjeants’ Inn
R (on the application of Bodycote HIP LTD) v HM Coroner for Herefordshire [2008] EWHC 164 (Admin)

Mediation & ADR Articles, Edited by Justin Patten, Human Law

Will legal changes or other factors lead our clients to mediation? - Justin Patten, Human Law Mediation
This article considers some of the key legal changes on the subject of mediation and asks whether it will give more incentive to parties to mediate.

Charon QC

Charon QC, Oct 2008
Forecast for law schools for the next three years.