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Catastrophic brain injury claims: Establishing liability – the legal principles

Pankaj Madan reviews the court’s approach to liability in cases involving collisions between pedestrians and vehicles ‘In Jackson the Supreme Court observed that there is no precise formulation and that contributory negligence is a somewhat “rough and ready” exercise.’ In my article in last month’s PILJ, ‘Establishing liability’, I wrote that catastrophic brain injuries bring …
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Case report: R & S Pilling (t/a Phoenix Engineering) v UK Insurance Ltd [2019] UKSC 16

Motor insurance; property damage; Road Traffic Act 1988; Motor Insurance Directives ‘The effect of the Supreme Court judgment is to curtail attempts by claimants to widen the circumstances in which the MIB and RTA insurers are obliged to satisfy claims.’ R & S Pilling (t/a Phoenix Engineering) v UK Insurance Ltd [2019] was not a …
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Overstatement: Exaggeration not necessarily fundamental dishonesty

Bronia Hartley reports on the latest case involving allegations of fundamental dishonesty ‘It was the claimant’s case that he had suffered a significant injury as a result of the fall, that he continued to suffer debilitating pain and as a result was unlikely to find gainful employment.’ There have been a number of recent decisions …
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Psychiatric injury: Primary rules

Is a claimant for psychiatric injuries associated with their child’s birth a primary or secondary victim? Suzanne Lambert discusses ‘Where the claimant is a primary victim (who is involved in an accident, for example), as opposed to a secondary victim (who may be a mere witness to an accident), there should be no distinction made …
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Advocate’s advice: Clinical negligence update

Bill Braithwaite QC provides his insight on recent significant case law ‘In Montgomery, the Supreme Court highlighted the importance of patient autonomy and the patient’s entitlement to make decisions whether to incur risks of injury inherent in treatment.’ Updating in clinical negligence is not always easy, because the principles usually stay the same, and only …
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Service: Suing unnamed defendants and approaches to alternative service

Benjamin Williams QC and Ben Smiley consider judicial guidance about how and when service can be effected ‘This was the first occasion on which the basis and extent of the jurisdiction to bring a claim against an unnamed defendant had been considered by the Supreme Court or the House of Lords.’ The Supreme Court has …
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Periodontal disease: The smoking defence

Sarah Mynard examines the complex issues of causation that arise in periodontal claims ‘Mrs Haughton brought a claim against her GDP, Dr Patel, for his failure to diagnose, treat and/or refer her for specialist advice for her CAP, which had caused the abscess.’ Bringing a claim for periodontal disease can be straightforward in terms of …
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Damages claims: The benevolence exception – where does the law stand?

Laura Swaine reviews whether payments made by third parties can be offset in fatal accident claims ‘As the law stands any payment made to the claimant from a JustGiving or public fund set up in aid of the claimant falls within the benevolence exception and is not deducted from any personal injury settlement.’ In recent …
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Catastrophic brain injury claims: Establishing liability

Pankaj Madan gives invaluable advice about the practical issues that often arise in establishing liability and how to resolve them ‘It is very tempting to simply rely upon the recollections of apparently independent witnesses in reaching a view upon liability but this can be unreliable and cause severe injustice.’ Catastrophic brain injuries bring their own …
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Costs: Medical agency fees in fixed costs cases

Paul Jones highlights that there are still areas of dispute with fixed costs ‘The claimant’s case was that the reference to “the cost of obtaining” in CPR 45.29I(2) did not draw any distinction between the direct costs (the fee charged by the GP or hospital) and the indirect costs of an agent doing the work …
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