Blogs Archive

The recent case of Hopkins v (1) Akramy (2) Badger Group (3) NHS Commissioning Board [2020] EWHC 3445 (QB) considered whether an NHS Primary Care Trust owed a non-delegable duty of care with regard to healthcare services provided by a third party. HHJ Melissa Clarke, sitting as a Judge of the High Court, held that…

In Davies v Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust [2021] EWHC 169 (QB), the High Court considered the question of causation in circumstances where the deceased had suffered from acute pneumococcal meningitis.  Ultimately, HHJ Auerbach, sitting as a Judge of the High Court, concluded that if antibiotics had been commenced by 10.40 on 25 February 2015, there…

In Brint v Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals NHS Trust [2021] EWHC 290 (QB), HHJ Platts, sitting as a High Court Judge, declined to make a finding of fundamental dishonesty following the dismissal of the Claimant’s claim for damages, arising from an extravasation injury sustained following a CT scan with contrast carried out at the Defendant’s…

In Hopkins v (1) Akramy (2) Badger Group (3) NHS Commissioning Board [2020] EWHC 3445 (QB), the High Court considered, as a preliminary issue, whether an NHS Primary Care Trust (“PCT”) owed a non-delegable duty of care for health services provided to NHS patients by a private company. HHJ Melissa Clarke, sitting as a Judge of the…

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…