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Vicarious liability: The perils of Christmas parties

Is an employer vicariously liable for injuries inflicted during a fight between employees? David Sanderson examines a recent case ‘It is in many ways remarkable that the trial judge should have taken such care to make and record findings of fact that seem so clearly to point towards a finding of vicarious liability, only then …
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Breach of duty: Saying the wrong thing

Shahram Sharghy reports on a case that concerned whether a duty of care was owed by a non-medically-trained receptionist ‘As soon as the claimant had been “booked in”, he entered into a relationship with the defendant of patient and healthcare provider. The scope of the duty extends to taking reasonable care not to provide misleading …
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Duty of care: Claims against the police post Robinson and DSD – part one

In part one of a two-part analysis of claims against the police, John-Paul Swoboda examines the decision in Robinson and whether the police are exempt from negligence claims ‘Lord Reed and the other Supreme Court justices recognised that not too high a standard ought to be imposed on the police, but those observations did not …
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Road traffic accidents: Under cover

David Knifton QC reports on the ground-breaking judgment in Lewis v Tindale on the liability of the MIB for accidents on private land ‘A key objective of the compulsory insurance directives was to protect the victims of accidents caused by vehicles, and to ensure that they received comparable treatment irrespective of where in the EU …
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Acid attacks: Finding compensation

With the number of acid attacks soaring, Patricia McCaffrey explores the potential heads of claim ‘The amount of compensation awarded will be unique to each victim and is dependent upon a number of factors including the severity of the attack, injuries sustained, recovery prognosis and future risks of deterioration and/or treatment.’ With an increase in …
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Chronic pain: What does it take to prove CRPS?

Pankaj Madan provides an invaluable insight into these difficult cases ‘It is necessary to be careful in the diagnosis but also of course not to miss true cases of CRPS, not least of course because CRPS has a small risk of spreading to other limbs, justifying potential claims for provisional damages.’ I pose the question …
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Parental liability: Some people’s kids…

Judges often have to determine the extent to which liability for an accident should be apportioned. Ann Houghton and Karl Hirst consider this in the vexed context of parental responsibility ‘The intriguing question in Ellis related to an everyday decision of pure parenting. To what degree would the law critically scrutinise and second-guess those types …
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Costs: Justice more certain

Paul Jones reviews a recent case that shows the unpredictability of the proportionality test ‘The issue facing district judges and costs judges whenever the issue of proportionality has to be considered is that there is virtually no guidance from the CPR, Practice Direction 44 or the higher courts on any element of how to apply …
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Case report: Ketchion v McEwan (2018) unreported, Newcastle upon Tyne County Court, HHJ Freedman, 28 June

Costs recovery; QOCS protection; counterclaims ‘A claimant who successfully established a claim for catastrophic injuries would not recover a penny of costs if the defendant happened to have even a weak counterclaim for minor whiplash.’ This recent costs case, if correctly decided, has dramatic and far-reaching implications for personal injury litigation. This article will consider …
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Sexting: Sending the wrong message

Kim Harrison reports on the remedies available for psychiatric harm caused to children by sexual texts ‘It may well be that the Rhodes tort used in the ABC case may not be being used as often as it was thought it may be following the ABC judgment if claimants are instead choosing to utilise other …
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