Personal Injury Blogs Archive

On 10 April 2024, the High Court handed down its decision in Williams-Henry v Associated British Ports Holdings Ltd [2024] EWHC 806 (KB). In that judgment the presentation of the Claimant’s claim for personal injury was considered fundamentally dishonest and so was dismissed under section 57 of the Criminal Justice and Courts Act 2015 (“the 2015 Act”). In considering whether…

After the introduction of the reforms to the Civil Procedure Rules in 2013, you may recall some judges becoming, at least initially, excited about the prospect of experts giving evidence concurrently (so-called “hot tubbing”). Since that early flush of excitement, I have been involved in only one trial in which it was used and I…

Provisional damages operate as an exception to the general rule that damages are assessed on a once-and-for-all basis. Where a claimant finds themselves at a risk of developing a disease or deterioration in their physical or mental condition in the future, the general rule would require the court to assess that risk and compensate the…

The Supreme Court has handed down its highly anticipated decision in TUI UK Ltd v Griffiths [2023] UKSC 48.  The Supreme Court unanimously allowed the appeal of the Claimant, reversing the decision of the Court of Appeal. The judgment can be accessed here. The decision of the Court of Appeal is discussed in the author’s blog…

On 26 July 2023, the Court of Appeal handed down its decision in the case of FXF v English Karate Federation Ltd [2023] EWCA Civ 891, regarding the correct approach to dealing with applications to set aside default judgments. Specifically, the court addressed the issue whether the well-trodden criteria from Denton v TH White Ltd [2014] 1 WLR…

On 9 May 2023, Ritchie J sitting in the High Court handed down judgment in Woodcock v Chief Constable of Northamptonshire Police [2023] EWHC 1062 (KB) which addressed the question of whether the police had a duty to warn the Claimant that her violent ex-partner was lurking outside her home. A link to the judgment…

This is the first in a series of blogs that I shall be authoring on the Defective Premises Act 1972 (“DPA”) and some of the current trends that I am seeing with claims brought against landlords under s. 4. Introduction  Claims under s. 4 of the DPA have, as a basic ingredient, notice as a…

In the recent Northern Irish case of Carberry (Deceased) v Ministry of Defence [2023] NIKB 54, McAlinden J delivered an impressive and lengthy judgment arising from the shooting of the Deceased on 13 November 1974. The circumstances of the case stretch back to the period identified by the judge at [208] as ‘the darkest days…

On 26 April 2023, the Supreme Court handed down judgment in Trustees of the Barry Congregation of Jehovah’s Witnesses v BXB [2023] UKSC 15. Having reviewed all the leading authorities of the House of Lords and Supreme Court on vicarious liability from the last twenty or so years, the judgment set out five principles a court should…

E-scooters, much like Marmite, split opinions. Well, it seems our Parisian friends have spoken, and the answer is non! Not to Marmite, although one suspects the answer might be the same, but to e-scooters.  On 2 April 2023, the inhabitants of Paris were asked for their view and, with almost 90% of the vote, e-scooters will be…

In Jenkinson v Hertfordshire County Council [2023] EWHC 872 (KB) (judgment here), Andrew Baker J has thrown the cat amongst the pigeons on the question of when medical treatment following a tort can break the chain of causation.  The orthodox approach to this issue had been to follow the guidance of the Court of Appeal in Webb v…

The appeal decision of Julian Knowles J in Après Lounge Limited v Wade [2023] EWHC 190 (KB) (judgment here) provides a useful reminder that the courts must not impose a counsel of perfection on defendants, who are required only to exercise reasonable care. The First-Instance Decision The Claimant brought a claim against the Defendant for…