On 27 July Simon Readhead QC – always vigilant, always at his desk (even in the vacation) – posted on these pages news that the Court of Appeal had slipped a surprise judgment through at the start of the summer holiday season in which they announced a 10% increase in general damages awards across the board with effect from next April.  This change was intended to dovetail with t... [Continue Reading]

1.      Just over five years ago, there was an unfathomable change to the Part 36 rules on split trials which, it turns out, gives a huge incentive to defendants to make a monetary Part 36 offer before any split trial that is ordered.   2.      Prior to 6th April 2007, the matter was dealt with by Part 36.19.  Part 36.19, entitled Restric... [Continue Reading]

If you were lucky enough to see Sir Chris Hoy take gold in the Velodrome or the ‘Mobot’ in action in the stadium, you might be wondering why the buzz hasn’t worn off…   According to LOCOG officials, cheering crowds caused noise levels in the stadia to regularly exceed 100 decibels, which is 512 times louder than breathing and 10 billion times louder than the... [Continue Reading]

Jackson LJ considered case management decisions in his report on costs in civil litigation. He said:-   "...courts at all levels have become too tolerant of delays and non-compliance with orders. In so doing they have lost sight of the damage which the culture of delay and non-compliance is inflicting on the civil justice system. The balance therefore needs to be redressed."  Earlier th... [Continue Reading]

The recent case of Marcel Beasley (a protected party by, his litigation friend Cadell Beasley) v Paul Alexander ([2012] EWHC 2197 (QB)) serves as a reminder of what is required to establish contributory negligence: not just fault on the part of the claimant but also the causative potency of the fault. On the afternoon of 22 May 2009 a serious collision occurred between a car driven by Mr Alexander... [Continue Reading]

The unfortunate Ms Drysdale was injured on the first day of her tenancy when she was ascending the steps to the property she had rented. She fell on the middle of three steps which had been painted red by the landlady to improve their appearance. There was a low wall (9.5 cm) next to the steps and a 2.5 metre (8 feet) drop on the other side of the wall. Ms Drysdale fell over the wall and was serio... [Continue Reading]

As the London Olympics draws to a close it is interesting to think about how our forefathers lived at the time of the first modern Olympic Games in 1896: what personal injuries they suffered and what claims they made.   Cars had just been invented, but few people could afford them, so there would have been very few car accidents. By interesting coincidence, the first fatal car accident is bel... [Continue Reading]

A story has been widely reported which I expect warmed the heart of many a lawyer with experience of dealing with cases where it is suspected (and nothing more than that) that a claimant party was not telling the truth about the cause of an injury.   Whilst judges in the county court are often sometimes correctly criticised for being gallingly reluctant to make findings of bad faith in anyon... [Continue Reading]

Kira Middleton v Allianz IARD SA v Erika Lee Middleton [2012] EWHC 2287 (QB)     This matter arose out of a road traffic accident in France on 6 February 2002. The Claimant was a child born on 28 September 1999. The Defendant was an insurance company registered in France. The Third Party was the Claimant’s mother and became a party to the proceedings when a Part 20 (additional) cl... [Continue Reading]

If you had the misfortune to be inside a hospital today, you may not have been imagining it if you thought the doctors are getting younger…   According to the Telegraph, around 7,000 graduate doctors today began practice in hospitals up and down the country.     Dr Anthea Martin, senior medical advisor at the Medical and Dental Defence Union of Scotland, s... [Continue Reading]