In a truly Phyrrhic victory for the Defendant, the Supreme Court has just handed down a judgment overruling Ul-Haq v Shah and Widlake v BAA. In Fairclough Homes v Summers [2012] UKSC 26 the Supreme Court held that it is open to a judge to strike out a fraudulently exaggerated claim on grounds of abuse of process, even after judgment on liability and where it is possible to assess the damages to which the claimant would otherwise be entitled. But the Supreme Court considered that it would only be appropriate to do so in very exceptional circumstances. The circumstances of this case were not exceptional enough and the case should not be struck out.

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When John Major launched the ill-fated “Back-to-Basics” campaign in 1993 he sought to recall an image of Britain:  warm beer, old maids bicycling to church and long shadows on the cricket ground.  With the greatest respect to Sir John I would suggest he missed various other specifically British images, one of which is the noble sport of welly wanging.  I’m confiden... [Continue Reading]

Readers who have the unfortunate daily penance of commuting in London may like me find some form of diversion in picking up a copy of the Evening Standard newspaper. If you had yesterday, you may have seen an article pointing out the wide disparity in the life expectancy of London men, depending on which area of London they hail from (the article is entitled: “How living in London is serious... [Continue Reading]

The case of R (on the application of Sharing) v Preston County Court [EWHC 515] is perhaps a surprising one to comment on in a personal injury blog. It concerns wrongful eviction, rent arrears and judicial review. However it is of wider interest because the claimant, whose claim for damages was dismissed by the district judge and whose application for permission to appeal to the circuit judge was ... [Continue Reading]

CASE REPORT: -       Scott v Symons (2012) CA (Civ Div) 19/06/2012     At first instance, a motorcyclist was held responsible for a road traffic accident by riding his motorcycle onto the wrong side of the road. The motorcyclist himself had been injured by a car and gave the sole oral testimony at the trial. He contended he had been driving towards the middl... [Continue Reading]

The discount for loss of a chance is not confined to future losses.  It also applies to the hypothetical past. Many injured claimants had plans to start work or resume work only for such plans to be delayed or obliterated by an injury. Defendants shouldn’t assume that claimants who were unemployed at the time of the accident would have obtained employment, just because they say so. ... [Continue Reading]