In November 1977 Paul Simon released his “Greatest Hits” album. It included two new tracks one of which was the smooth ballad, “Slip Slidin' Away”. Fifty years earlier in The Carlgarth [1927] P93 Scrutton L.J. had a different form of sliding in mind when he famously illustrated how the law has always distinguished between the duties owed by occupiers to lawful visitors to ... [Continue Reading]

The Court of Appeal (Mummery LJ, Patten LJ and Hedley J) gave judgment today in the case of Micklewright v Surrey County Council [2011] EWCA Civ 922. The Claimant’s appeal was dismissed. The claim concerned a tragic fatal accident when a large oak tree branch fell on Christopher Imison (deceased) whilst he was unloading his bicycle from the family car on a road in Windsor Great Park. The t... [Continue Reading]

Following the decision of the European Court of Justice in Association belge des Consommateurs Test-Achats ASBL v Conseil des ministres - C-236/09 [2011] All ER (D) 07 (Mar); [2011] Lloyd's Rep IR 296; [2011] NLJR 363 which declared unlawful the practice by insurers of using gender to determine the price of motor insurance, claims for additional motor insurance costs in schedules will need to be r... [Continue Reading]

Two days ago the Court of Appeal handed down judgment in O'Connor v. Stuttard [2011] EWCA Civ 829.  A group of young children was playing in a quiet street in Oldham, which was in essence a short cul de sac.  D drove into the street, which he knew well, at about 10 mph in a low gear, saw the children on the right hand side of the road and so moved "abnormally close" t... [Continue Reading]

Love it or loathe it, the Apprentice is a televisual phenomenon that is difficult to avoid.  I have found myself sucked into this series and was very pleased last night to find the final scheduled as an amusing end to the weekend.  Lord Sugar and his accolytes enjoyed tearing strips off the hapless four finalists.  With business plans laying their limitations bare this was rather ak... [Continue Reading]

  Mr and Mrs Loveday were involved in a road traffic accident. They brought proceedings for personal injury and the insurers admitted liability. Surely this was just another straightforward case of assessing damages? Mr Loveday signed his witness statement which said he had suffered injuries, he could not work or drive, he was reliant on a wheelchair as he could hardly walk, he had to be care... [Continue Reading]

Ms Jones and Ms Lovegrove clearly had a very unpleasant few years living with the extensive and, for much of the time unauthorised, building works carried out by their neighbours, Mr and Mrs Ruth.  At trial the judge found in their favour in a claim brought against the Ruths in nuisance, trespass and harassment, awarding them a substantial sum in damages.  It was also contended on M... [Continue Reading]

In the recent case of Hufton v Somerset County Council the Court of Appeal has dismissed an appeal by Ms Maddison Hufton, a former pupil at Ansford Community School in Castle Cary, against the dismissal of her claim for damages.  Ms Hufton suffered a knee injury when she slipped on a small area of water in the school assembly hall during breaktime.  The trial judge had concluded that a r... [Continue Reading]

Have you found that questions of causation are becoming increasingly difficult or contentious? Causation is often a very knotty problem in theory, can take up a lot of time in preparation, during ADR, and at trial, but tends to be quite briskly dealt with by trial judges:  the medical evidence either supports it or not. Nonetheless the Claimants increasingly submit that the court should disca... [Continue Reading]

The scope of s. 151 of the Road Traffic Act 1988 was the subject of the judgment of Tugendhat J in the case of Bristol Alliance Limited Partnership v Williams (1) EUI Limited (2) [2011] EWHC Civ 1657 (QB), handed down last week.  In the early hours of 12 December 2008 a car driven by D1, Mr Williams, collided with the House of Fraser store in Cabot Circus, Bristol, causing in the region of &... [Continue Reading]