PI Brief Update

Child pedestrians and contributory negligence - David Knifton QC, Exchange Chambers

23/09/21. In the latest contribution to the issue of child contributory negligence, HHJ Bird (sitting as a Judge of the High Court) concluded that a 9 year-old girl, struck by a ...

Sheard -v- Cao Tri Do [2021] EWHC 2166 (QB) - Nicholas Dobbs, Temple Garden Chambers

17/09/21. Sheard -v- Cao Tri Do [2021] EWHC 2166 (QB) provides an instructive example of the difficulties in negligence claims of resolving conflict between witness evidence and ...

Axnoller Events Ltd -v- Brake [2021] EWHC 2362 (Ch) - Nicholas Dobbs, Temple Garden Chambers

15/09/21. In Axnoller Events Ltd -v- Brake [2021] EWHC 2362 (Ch), HHJ Matthews (sitting as a Judge of the High Court) carried out a summary assessment of the costs of an appli...

What Has Been the Impact of the Pandemic on Paralegals? - Amanda Hamilton, NALP

31/08/21. Within the legal profession it has long been regarded that paralegals are the support staff to solicitors, since many are graduates who are seeking to become solicitors...

A reply must be consistent with the pleadings: R5 Capital Ltd v Mitheridge Capital Management LLP [2021] EWHC 2316 (Ch) - Rochelle Powell, Temple Garden Chambers

26/08/21. The Defendant applied for security for costs and an order to strike out aspects of the Claimant’s statements of case. Both applications were successful. In relation to ...

Dishonest claim or dishonest claimant? The correct application of section 57: Michael v Hurford Ltd (t/a Rainbow) [2021] EWHC 2318 (QB) - Rochelle Powell, Temple Garden Chambers

24/08/21. The Claimant brought a successful claim for damages for personal injury arising out of a road traffic accident. However, it appeared that certain elements of the claim ...

Third-Party Disclosure in Asbestos case - Jim Hester, Parklane Plowden Chambers

10/08/21. This Judgment concerned an appeal from the Claimant’s unsuccessful Third Party disclosure Application: Sparkes (as personal representative of Pauline Sparkes, deceased) ...

PI: One of the top six growth areas for paralegals as we come out of lockdown - Amanda Hamilton, Chief Executive, National Association of Licensed Paralegals (NALP)

29/07/21. Fortunately, we are now seeing a slow recovery from lockdown, but we have yet to see the serious after-effects, mental, physical, economical and legal, on individuals a...

Whether there is a draft defence will, in certain circumstances, be a highly relevant factor in whether there is a real prospect of success on an application to set aside default judgment: Alli-Balogun v On the Beach Limited [2021] EWHC 1702 (QB) - Paul E

19/07/21. The Claimant, an eight year old child at the time of the accident, suffered catastrophic brain injuries when she drowned in a swimming pool in Spain on the watch of a l...

Fear and anguish shortly before instantaneous death: Chouza v Martins & Ors [2021] EWHC 1669 (QB) - Paul Erdunast, Temple Garden Chambers

14/07/21. Fear and anguish shortly before instantaneous death is capable of compensation in PSLA damages in a fatal accident case – but where that period of fear and anguish was ...

Solicitors win latest PI costs battle, but the war goes on - Ged Courtney, Kain Knight Costs Lawyers

29/06/21. Despite the disruptions caused by the Covid-19 pandemic the appetite for claims by former clients against their solicitors continues and those who represent them contin...

First instance County Court decision disallows medical agency cut of costs claimed in a medical report on the fixed costs regime - Paul Erdunast, Temple Garden Chambers

17/06/21. First instance County Court decision disallows medical agency cut of costs claimed in a medical report on the fixed costs regime: Powles v Hemmings, 23 April 2021, as r...

Case Report: Breakingbury v Croad, Cardiff County Court, 19 April 2021 - Harry Peto, Temple Garden Chambers

15/06/21. The Claimant sought damages from the Defendant arising from her treatment as an NHS patient at a particular dental clinic. The Defendant was the owner of the practice a...

Noise Immission Level (NIL) Part 3: More complicated features - Jim Hester, Parklane Plowden Chambers

08/06/21. This third article in relation to the Noise Immission level (NIL) considers some of the more complicated or arguable features. The first article considered the basics o...

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

17/05/21. 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 gene...

Costs: Ahmed and Panache Leasing Ltd v Ahmed [2021] EWHC 1021 (Ch) - Harry Peto, Temple Garden Chambers

Noise Immission Level (NIL) Part 2: NIL and the Coles Guidelines - Jim Hester, Parklane Plowden Chambers

03/05/21. 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 basic...

Noise Immission Level (NIL): Part 1, the Basics - Jim Hester, Parklane Plowden Chambers

26/04/21. The basic requirements for a diagnosis of Noise Induced Hearing Loss consist of 2 elements: audiology which is consistent with NIHL and a history of exposure to a suffi...

How falling ill with COVID may be a good reason for failure to comply with an unless order: Finvest Holdings Sarl v Lovering [2021] 3 WLUK 579 - Paul Erdunast, Temple Garden Chambers

21/04/21. Where a party contracts COVID and is therefore unable to work, that may be a good reason for the failure to comply with an order - even an unless order. Furthermore, th...

Practitioner's Update: Mustard v Flower & Ors [2021] EWHC 846 (QB) - Harry Peto, Temple Garden Chambers

19/04/21. This case arose out of a road traffic accident. One of the Defendants (“the Defendant”) applied to amend its Defence to allege fundamental dishonesty (“FD”) and that th...

A costly error: the failure to file a schedule in Mahandru v Nielson [2021] EWHC 2297 (QB) - Rochelle Powell, Temple Garden Chambers

16/09/21. This was an appeal brought by the claimant in the underlying action, Mr Rajeve Mahandru, against an order of Ms Recorder Frost, by which she refused his application for...

A realistic and common-sense approach. A reminder of the principles relating to the assessment of damages under section 3 FAA: Paramount Shopfitting Company Ltd v Rix [2021] EWCA Civ 1172 - Rochelle Powell, Temple Garden Chambers

14/09/21. This was an appeal against the order of Cavanagh J, whereby he ordered that the respondent, the widow of Martin Rix (“Mrs Rix”), had suffered a loss of financial depend...

Cost Budgeting in the Asbestos List

02/09/21. This Judgment was given extempore during a CMC. However, the Master decided that given that it involves the common issue of cost budgeting within the Asbestos List, it wa...

How Two Law Firms Have Adapted to the PI Reforms - Brian Rogers, Access Legal

27/08/21. From 31 May this year, the personal injury claims process changed for people who suffer from what is categorised as low-value injuries in road traffic accidents or RTAs...

Increases in hourly rates amount to 'special circumstances': Raydens Ltd v Cole [2021] EWHC B14 (Costs) - Rochelle Powell, Temple Garden Chambers

27/08/21. The Claimant solicitors acted for the Defendant in matrimonial proceedings between 2013 and 2018. The proceedings concluded, in the course of an ancillary relief hearin...

Unreasonable non-use of the Portal means fixed costs apply: Harford v Music Store Professional UK/DV247 Ltd [2021] EWHC B17 (Costs). - Rochelle Powell, Temple Garden Chambers

25/08/21. The Claimant brought a claim for damages against his employer following an accident at work. He was initially diagnosed with a potential inguinal hernia. Subsequent inv...

Failure to Remove Claims and Section 20 Accommodation: YXA v Wolverhampton City Council - Paul Stagg, 1 Chancery Lane

02/08/21. Since the beginning of the year, three decisions have been handed down in favour of defendants in relation to how the decision in N v Poole BC [2019] UKSC 25, [2020] AC 7...

The fight against section 57 fundamental dishonesty: Ed Ford (aka Edward Leonard Batey) v Lilachall Limited - Cristina Parla, Roythornes Solicitors

30/07/21. I recently acted for a client in connection with his personal injury claim which arose as a result of a slipping accident on private property.

The facts of the case are ...

Balls v Reeve & Thurlow: limitation and causation: Asbestosis - Jim Hester, Parklane Plowden Chambers

27/07/21. In this Asbestosis case, both limitation and causation were in dispute. The Judgment appears in full at href="https://jimhester.me/library/asbestos-library/"> Balls v...

Smith v The Royal Bank of Scotland [2021] EWCA Civ 977 - Harry Peto, Temple Garden Chambers

15/07/21. The Defendant sought permission to appeal in a second appeal in relation to a PPI case. The case had been allocated to the small claims track. Permission to appeal was ...

R (The Good Law Project) v The Secretary of State for Health and Social Care [2021] EWHC 1782 (TCC) - Harry Peto, Temple Garden Chambers

13/07/21 . This was a claim for judicial review in which the Claimant sought to challenge the lawfulness of the Defendant’s decisions to award contracts for the supply of persona...

Annual audit of top 200 UK law firm websites show most aren't compliant with new Google updates - Sam Borrett, Legmark

30/06/21. Legal digital marketing agency founder, Sam Borrett, examines the data from the third annual legal sector review of law firm’s website performance and draws out some in...

The new whiplash reforms: A 7-point whip-around of key changes - Paul Erdunast, Temple Garden Chambers

18/06/21. The whiplash reforms came into force on 31 May 2021. They apply to all accidents that occurred on or after this date. They institute a wide-ranging sweep of changes tha...

Case Report: M (Children: Applications by Email) [2021] EWCA Civ 806 - Harry Peto, Temple Garden Chambers

16/06/21. While a family case, this case highlighted the importance of the rules of procedure in instances of cases that are litigated by correspondence.

If a party applies to the...

R (on the application of Wandsworth Borough Council) v Her Majesty’s Senior Coroner for Inner West London - Jim Hester, Parklane Plowden Chambers

10/06/21. This Judicial Review case was brought by the claimant council following an inquest. The Inquest had concluded that one of the council’s tenants had died as a result of ...

Procedure: First instance County Court decision suggests that low value product liability claims fall within the EL/PL protocol - Paul Erdunast, Temple Garden Chambers

14/05/21. 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 w...

PAL (A Child) v Davison, MacPherson & Colburn Ltd T/A Westbourne Motors and Aviva Insurance Ltd [2021] EWHC - Harry Peto, Temple Garden Chambers

12/05/21. 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 totall...

Wormald v Ahmed - Part 36 Offers and the Death of a Protected Party - Paul Stagg, 1 Chancery Lane

05/05/21. 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 ov...

High Court rejects submission that the objective evidence should be taken as the primary source of reliance compared with witnesses' recollection, even in a road traffic accident from over five years ago: Barrow & Ors v Merrett & Anor [2021] EWHC 792 (QB)

22/04/21. This case will provide a helpful guide to how a court assesses the evidence in a trial on liability in a road traffic accident where the events happened some time ago. ...

Costs: Sir Henry Royce Memorial Foundation v Mark Gregory Hardy [2021] EWHC 817 (Ch) - Harry Peto, Temple Garden Chambers

20/04/21. The general law is that costs are in the discretion of the court, but if the court makes a costs order, the general rule is that the unsuccessful party in the proceedin...