Blogs Archive

On 16 February 2021 the High Court handed down judgment in Martlet Homes Ltd v Mullalley & Co Ltd [2021] EWHC 296 (TCC), which gives guidance to practitioners on the often misunderstood role and remit of a Reply to Defence. To read the full judgment, click here. The Facts Martlet was not a personal injury claim. For…

A judgment resolving various cross-applications a few weeks before trial in a serious PI case is perhaps not the most obvious subject for a blog. However, there is so much packed into the 15-paragraph judgment of Fordham J in Pass v Ministry of Defence [2021] EWHC 243 (QB) and the result is an unfamiliar one.…

Claims by secondary victims arising from clinical negligence have for many years been a battleground between Claimants and the NHS, particularly where the psychiatric damage that is the subject of the claim occurs many months after the purported breach of duty in respect of the primary victim. Defendants have routinely fought hard when it comes to…

Bankruptcy orders are relatively rare. Having never exceeded 10,000 per year before 1990, they exceeded 100,000 in 2009, and have only occasionally dipped beneath that figure. Even at those numbers, in recent years they approximate to 26 people per 10,000, or about a quarter of one percent. However they will inevitably rise as an economic…

On 28 January the High Court handed down judgment on an interlocutory appeal in Kasem v University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust [2021] EWHC 136 (QB). Saini J struck out the Claimant NHS Trust’s statement of case for a defective pleading of common law deceit. The Facts In May 2013 Mr Kasem underwent a…

A finding of fundamental dishonesty can be pursued by a defendant in a personal injury or disease claim through two different routes. The first is to secure the dismissal of the claim under section 57 of the Criminal Justice and Courts Act 1957. Most commonly, it is a weapon used during the trial itself to…

Whilst clinical negligence practitioners are especially accomplished in ensuring that they properly advise their clients to claim an interim payment on account of damages when this best suits their client’s needs, the opportunity of seeking an interim payment on account of costs often slips through the net. “Make Mine a Double” The recent case of IXM…

Almost all practitioners will know that the GHR have remained unchanged since 2010. These rates are set out in the following table: Guideline Hourly Rates In 2014 the Master of the Rolls refused to implement the recommendations of the Civil Justice Council’s costs committee as to increases to the GHR due to lack of sufficient…

In The White Lion Hotel v James [2021] EWCA Civ 31 the Court of Appeal considered the ambit of the well-known authorities on ‘obvious risks’ in the context of occupiers’ liability, and the proper approach to section 2(5) of the Occupiers’ Liability Act 1957. Background HHJ Cotter QC at first instance gave judgment for the…

In a judgment handed down on 18 January 2021 in Head v The Culver Heating Co Ltd [2021] EWCA Civ 34, the Court of Appeal unanimously allowed an appeal against the decision of HHJ Melissa Clarke dismissing the Claimant’s ‘lost years’ claim. The judge had dismissed the claim on the basis that the Claimant’s income…

Clinical negligence cases can be complex enough without the added difficulty of delay in bringing proceedings resulting in a limitation defence. When it is raised by Defendants it is currently common for cases to be managed so that limitation will be tried as a preliminary issue, perhaps because of the possibility of a major costs…

In R (on the application of (1) Aviva Insurance Ltd (2) Swiss Reinsurance Company Ltd) v The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions [2021] EWHC 30 (Admin), Henshaw J dealt with certain consequential matters arising from his earlier judgment dated 20 November 2020 which arose from the Claimants’ challenge to the onerous consequences of the Compensation Recovery…