Blogs Archive

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…

In Knapman v Carbines [2020] EWHC 3586 (QB), HHJ Cotter QC considered the balancing exercise to be conducted upon a very late application to rely on an expert report. The Context Mr Knapman suffered a severe traumatic brain injury in a road traffic accident in 2013. Liability was admitted and a trial on quantum was…

On 16 December 2020, Martin Spencer J handed down judgment in Young v Downey [2020] EWHC 3457 (QB), an interesting decision on secondary victims in nervous shock cases. In this blog post, Philip Turton and Katie McFarlane summarise and review the decision, which can be read here. Preamble Where a person suffers psychiatric as well as physical…

We are delighted to announce that Jayne Adams QC has been appointed a Master of the Bench of Gray’s Inn. Jayne’s appointment marks a recognition of her contribution to the law and her commitment to inclusion and social mobility. For more on Jayne’s practice, please click here.

The recent decision in Mathewson v Crump & Crump [2020] EWHC 3167 (QB) concerned a claim under the Occupiers’ Liability Act 1957. In determining the claim, two particularly interesting features arose: First, there was the fundamental issue of whether the Defendants had control over the property which the Claimant was visiting at the material time…

The word “causation” needs a careful degree of unpacking. There is medical causation: what injury does the Claimant prove he or she has been caused. There is legal causation: is it proved that such injury would not have been caused but for the breach or breaches of duty established. Allied to the latter, there is…