Blogs Archive

Benjamin Franklin held that death, along with taxes, were the only certainties. When the former occurs after a cause of action in a personal injury claim has arisen there will be consequences for that claim. When a person who is, or was intended to be, a party to a personal injury claim dies (so we…

Prior to the introduction of s. 57 of the Criminal Justice and Courts Act 2015 (CJCA 2015), the court would disallow the dishonest elements but allow the honest elements of the claim. However, in the course of three short years (during which the decision in Summers v Fairclough Homes [2012] 1 WLR 2004 was handed down,…

Philip Turton reviews a recent HSE prosecution arising from a failure properly to assess vibration exposure at work. In May 2022, Westbridge Furniture Designs Limited were prosecuted by Her Majesty’s Health and Safety Executive for failure to undertake sufficient risk assessments in relation to their use of vibrating tools and failure to maintain adequate controls…

On 20 May 2022 Master Davison handed down judgment in the case of Brooks v Zurich Insurance PLC and Aviva Insurance (UK) Ltd, dismissing the Defendants’ application for summary judgment against the Claimant on the ground that he had wrongly brought proceedings against the insurers pursuant to the provisions of The Third Parties (Rights Against…

Service of an Unsealed Claim Form Ideal Shopping Direct Limited & Ors v Mastercard Inc & Ors [2022] 1 WLR 1541 The sealing of court documents is governed by CPR 2: 2.6       (1) The court must seal the following documents on issue – (a) the claim form; and (b) any other document which a rule or…

It is imperative when embarking upon the preliminary stages of bringing a claim that claimants and their legal advisors are fully aware of the procedural requirements to effect good service upon any proposed defendant. Failing to do so can have grave consequences. This serious of articles will explore some of the common errors and pitfalls…

There was no doubting that it was a “cruel combination of circumstances” when a cherry tree that had been growing on land immediately adjacent to a dual carriageway, suddenly fell directly onto Mr Hoyle’s car the exact moment he was driving past. Mr Hoyle sadly died at the scene. A claim under the Fatal Accidents…

Disputing the Joint Engineering Evidence: The Latest ‘Round’ in the Battle Between Claimants and Defendants in Noise-Induced Hearing Loss Claims? Donald Round v West Midlands Travel Ltd, County Court at Walsall, 7-10 March 2022. Summary Damian Powell, instructed by Ian Coppell of Weightmans LLP Liverpool, recently appeared for the Defendant in the trial of the above…

The NHS in England faces paying out £4.3bn in legal fees to settle outstanding claims of clinical negligence: so reported the BBC in January 2020 following a Freedom of Information Request. Estimates published in 2019 put the total cost of outstanding compensation claims at £83bn; NHS England’s total budget in 2018-19 was £129bn. Over the same…

The law in slipping cases is, in theory, settled and straightforward. One question that often arises in practice, however, is whether the defendant bears an evidential burden of proving that it had in place a proper and adequate system. It is a misconception to say that such a burden always arises in this context. This…

In complex clinical negligence cases involving substantial damages and an uncertain prognosis, there is often an urgency on the part of claimants to access funds so as to procure immediate needs such as; treatment, care and suitable accommodation. There are two hurdles to that end goal, however: establishing liability, and the sheer length of time…

In serious personal injury cases, the claim for future commercial care and case management is typically the most valuable and hotly-contested head of loss. In this blog I offer practical guidance to those involved in such claims as to how to deal with what has been recognised as a “perfect storm” of difficulties in recruiting…