Tom has consistently been listed for a number of years as a tier 1 leading junior barrister in the field of property and construction.
He has a particular specialism in Japanese knotweed claims, being described as having been involved in “all of the agenda-setting cases”.
Tom has appeared in the Supreme Court in Davies v Bridgend County Borough Council [2024] UKSC 14 on the question of causation and in the Court of Appeal in Davies [2023] EWCA Civ 80 on the question of diminution in value and pure economic loss, in Churchill v Merthyr Tydfil Borough Council [2023] Civ 1416 on the question of compulsory ADR and in Williams v Network Rail Infrastructure Ltd [2018] EWCA Civ 80 on the question of liability in nuisance for encroachment of rhizomes without actual physical damage.
Tom has acted in hundreds of knotweed claims for claimants and defendants, in nuisance, misrepresentation and professional negligence. In addition, he has advised multiple ATE insurers on setting up their funding criteria for knotweed claims.
Tom regularly acts in property cases of all kinds including high value fire damage claims, water damage claims and all other forms of nuisance and property damage cases including subsidence as well as construction disputes (including high value complex TCC litigation).
Tom also acts in landlord and tenant disputes as well as a multitude of TOLATA claims.
Many of Tom’s cases have received widespread media attention, for example:
Millionaire cycling tycoon sues neighbours over Japanese knotweed which he claims is infesting his £1.6million London home
Daily Mail – 13 June 2024
(Nuisance claim, Tom acted for the successful defendants at trial)
Furniture designer, 30, who found Japanese knotweed behind his shed when he moved into his £700k dream home successfully sues seller and leaves him facing £200,000 court bill after he denied plant was growing in garden
Daily Mail – 25 January 2023
(Misrepresentation claim, Tom acted for the successful claimant at trial)
Neighbour who sued retired NHS consultant claiming Japanese knotweed was infesting her £1.1m home faces a £100,000 legal bill after losing court battle
Daily Mail – 15 November 2024
(Misrepresentation claim, Tom acted for the claimant at trial)
Strimmergate: Government worker caught on camera flouting all the rules by dumping remains of Japanese Knotweed in a stream putting residents at risk of weed invasion
Daily Mail – 20 August 2017
(Nuisance claim, Tom acted for the claimant, with the claim settling shortly before trial)
Aristocrats sue their Airbnb landlord for £25,000 after he cut off electricity at their deluxe £3,435 per month Maida Vale apartment leaving them ‘living in total darkness’ when ‘they fell behind on rent’
Daily Mail – 20 December 2022
(Unlawful eviction and harassment claim, Tom acted for the defendant landlord)
Examples of other cases in which Tom has acted include:
- Acting for the landlord in a claim worth £2.2m against a tenant alleging arson which destroyed a building in order to escape from a lease. The claim settled at a mediation shortly before trial.
- Acting for a subcontractor in a construction dispute, defending an indemnity claim worth £700k and bringing part 20 proceedings against another subcontractor
- Acting for a fire service defending a claim worth £850k for damage caused by a second fire following their attendance
- Acting in a claim involving a fire from a grain dryer used to dry sunflower seeds which led to substantial damage to the entire farm complex
- Acting for a subcontractor in a construction dispute arising from defective sprinklers which caused substantial water damage to a new build London block of flats.
- Acting for the defendant builders in a claim where it is alleged that power was turned off to the freezers in a scientific laboratory, destroying perishable items.
- Acting for the defendant in a claim alleging defective building works which settled shortly before a 6 day trial.
- Acting successfully for a large group of claimants in a group action against a landfill site for nuisance caused by smells.
- Acting for a landlord in a relief from forfeiture claim where the landlord took back possession of the whole property following a police raid of a cannabis factory in a flat upstairs.
- Acting for the defendant in a claim for diminution in value where the defendant admitted to having unlawfully demolished the claimant’s house but then discovered a cannabis factory hidden underground. Following arguments about the value of the property, the claimant ultimately accepted the defendant’s part 36 offer during the trial at the conclusion of the evidence.
