The case of Re Atrium Training Services Limited [2013] EWHC 1562 (Ch) is the latest judgment from the High Court which considers the new rules. The judge was faced with an application to extend time to comply with a court order for a massive disclosure exercise. This came against a background of a history of breaches of a timetable set by the court. The judge underlined the strictness of the new r... [Continue Reading]

What is a witness statement? What is it for? And what should it contain?   These are all questions which ought to be simple-enough to answer. However frequently it appears to those involved in litigation that the simple-enough answers are not always correct! Witness statements not infrequently go wildly beyond the confines of a lay witness’s actual knowledge of proceedings; opinions an... [Continue Reading]

  The case of Venulum Property Investments Ltd v Space Architecture Limited [2013] EWHC 1242 (TCC) concerned a relief from sanctions application under r. 3.9. The decision was in fact made under the old rules because the application was made prior to 1st April 2013 but the judge (Edwards-Stuart J) took the new regime into account concluding: “In my judgment, when the circumstances are c... [Continue Reading]

Michael Wink v Croatio Osiguranje DD [2013] EWHC 1118 (QB) (Haddon-Cave J)   This case arose out of a road traffic accident in Croatia on 5 September 2009. The Claimant, a UK national domiciled in England, was on holiday with his wife when the accident happened. He was cycling along a street when he was struck by a Honda driven by a Croatian national. The Claimant was thrown in the air and su... [Continue Reading]

In Onay v Brown [2009] EWCA Civ 775, the Defendant car driver admitted liability and consented to the entry of judgment against him,  the sole remaining issue on liability being whether the Claimant motorcyclist was speeding and/or failing to keep a proper lookout and was therefore contributorily negligent. 25 days before trial the Defendant offered to settle on the basis that the Claimant ... [Continue Reading]

“Err... sorry but, we have your skeleton argument, but the Judge says he doesn’t have any other documents from the Defendant. It seems half the court file has been lost”   This was the lament from a very long-suffering court usher to the author just yesterday morning ahead of a Fast Track trial. It is not an unfamiliar complaint in most barristers' experiences. Indeed, ... [Continue Reading]

 Ex turpi causa is one of those doctrines which we learn when we study law but rarely get to use in anger.  But in a judgment published today the Court of Appeal has upheld a judge’s decision to deny the claimant any recovery against his uncle whose dangerous driving caused him a serious head injury. The claimant and the driver, his uncle, had carried out a theft of some ladders ... [Continue Reading]

The nation's passion for cosmetic enhancement continues apace.  When I was a child we Brits were as perplexed by the American obsession with even shiny white teeth as the Americans were by our yellow snaggly tombstones.  Nowadays simply turning on the television can be blinding.  Every presenter, actor and popstar seems to bare even rows of bright, white veneers.  I am often re... [Continue Reading]

Most people don't know that the NHS has a list of "never events", being a list of preventable events that should never happen.  The October 2012 Never Events Policy Framework defines never events as "serious, largely preventable patient safety incidents that should not occur if the available preventative measures have been implemented by healthcare providers".  The Framework contain... [Continue Reading]

Cynical defendant lawyers regard applications under s 33 of the Limitation Act to extend time for bringing personal injury proceedings as invariably going the claimants’ way.  Some see it as effectively a statutory abolition of the limitation period.    However, the High Court has this week refused an extension for a claimant with lung cancer allegedly caused by his his... [Continue Reading]