Continue reading "Clinical Negligence: Delayed diagnosis in cancer cases and proof of causation"
In conclusion to his two-part article, Julian Matthews reports upon a further recent decision in this complex area of medicine and law, and reflects upon whether similar cases can still be pursued given the recent changes to the rules on costs My last article for the Personal Injury Law Journal concerned awards of damages for …
Case Report: Gavin Flatman v Gill Germany; Richard Weddall v Barchester Health Care Ltd [2013] EWCA Civ 278
Third-party cost orders; disclosure ‘There will be palpable relief among solicitors that the payment of disbursements and provision of credit has roundly been dismissed as a test for establishing that a funder is “a real party” to proceedings.’ On 10 April 2013 the Court of Appeal handed down judgment in the conjoined appeals in Flatman …
Client Care: Clients without capacity – taking instructions
Araba Taylor considers the affairs of the incapacitated in the first of two articles The test of the mental capacity of a litigant either to bring litigation or to commence civil proceedings, without the need for a litigation friend, depends on the specific transaction involved. Clients without capacity present client care issues for all practitioners, …
Continue reading "Client Care: Clients without capacity – taking instructions"
Civil Procedure Rules: Collaborative costs management – a way forward?
M C
Mark Bailey provides a defendant’s perspective of the post-April changes and how these should be tackled It is proposed that once a costs management order has been made and a budget approved, the court will thereafter control the parties’ budgets. The purpose of this article is to look at aspects of the new rules, potential …
Continue reading "Civil Procedure Rules: Collaborative costs management – a way forward?"
Funding: Damages-based agreements: the basics
Paul Jones looks at the pros and cons DBAs provide a whole new wilderness for the majority of personal injury lawyers to navigate through. Conditional fee agreements (CFA) were confusing enough when they were first introduced but now we have new-style CFAs (with unrecoverable success fees and ATE premiums) sitting alongside DBAs. The main provisions …
Continue reading "Funding: Damages-based agreements: the basics"
Procedural Reform: PI litigation in Jackson’s brave new world
Robert Cumming gives a view from the Bar and considers the practical consequences of the new rules The introduction of the CPR 1998 ushered in a new culture of active case management. Parties were no longer to be trusted to run their litigation efficiently free from judicial scrutiny. In little over three years Lord Justice …
Continue reading "Procedural Reform: PI litigation in Jackson’s brave new world"
Costs Budgeting: A new era in satellite litigation?
Andrew Hogan reviews the first Court of Appeal decision and if it will be possible to depart from an approved budget Because they are simply ‘taken into account’, if an arbitrary figure of costs claimed in the bill exceeds by 20% more than the estimate, on any assessment, they are often breached with impunity. On …
Continue reading "Costs Budgeting: A new era in satellite litigation?"
Case Report: Germaine v Epsom & St Helier University Hospitals NHS Trust [2013] All ER (D) 248 (Jan)
Contemporaneous evidence; contributory negligence Significantly, in the later of the two reports, when the line manager had had further time to reflect, criticism was leveled at the project manager, the contractors and the porter for not doing their jobs properly.In this case, it was held that an allegation of contributory negligence had to fail where …
Victims Of Violence: Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme 2012
Georgina Hirsch highlights the main changes The government justifies the removal of a loss of earnings award to those still in work on the grounds that the state already compensates them.Austerity has affected many aspects of justice in the UK, and compensation for victims of violence is no exception. On 27 November 2012 a new …
Continue reading "Victims Of Violence: Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme 2012"
Occupational Disease: Extent of insurance cover for mesothelioma claims
Anna Macey discusses the decision in International Energy Group Ltd v Zurich Insurance plc UK Ltd The relationship between an insurer and an insured is contractual, and the premium reflects the risk the insurer is prepared to take and the price they are prepared to accept for it.In this interesting case the Court of Appeal …
Continue reading "Occupational Disease: Extent of insurance cover for mesothelioma claims"