April 2016 #144 – Law Journals

Case Report: Cox v Ministry of Justice [2016] UKSC 10

Vicarious liability; breach of duty; protection for victims of tort; employment relationship ‘Technical arguments about employment status will not save a defendant from vicarious liability, since the approach looks at the business reality.’ Who would have thought a generation ago that the prison service would be held vicariously liable for the negligence of a prisoner? …

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Case Law: New grounds

Stephanie Prior reviews recent changes in personal injury and clinical negligence litigation ‘Montgomery is a move away from the test of a reasonable doctor and that of a reasonable patient.’ It has been an exciting period in the litigation world over the last year or so. This article will touch upon some of those changes …

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Advocate’s Advice: Keeping it simple

Bill Braithwaite QC highlights a judgment with clear findings on causation and material contribution ‘A claim will fail if the most that can be said is that the claimant’s injury is likely to have been caused by one or more of a number of disparate factors, one of which was attributable to a wrongful act …

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Tortious Liability: An ‘ordinary unwell man’?

The threshold for liability in negligence of a mentally or physically impaired tortfeasor has recently been clarified in the Court of Appeal decision in Terry Dunnage v (1) Randall (2) UK Insurance Limited [2015]. David Roderick reports ‘The medical evidence had clearly established that V’s actions had not been intended, deliberate, wilful, malicious or reckless.’The …

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Fundamental Dishonesty: A forecast for fraud – and a chance of meatballs

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In the second part of this article, Martin Littler suggests safeguards and amendments to CPR in order to ensure that such cases are streamlined and properly tracked ‘In cases involving fundamental dishonesty and fraud the real threat of an adverse costs order should be a Sword of Damocles for both parties.’ We saw in part …

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Costs: Fixed costs or not fixed costs?

Paul Jones explains the importance of a recent conjoined appeal regarding Part 36 offers ‘A claimant who made a Part 36 offer which they later bettered was entitled to indemnity basis costs for the period after expiry of the relevant period and this was not limited in any way by reference to the fixed costs …

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Fraud: QOCS and fundamental dishonesty

Luka Krsljanin explores cases that highlight the exceptions to the default QOCS rules ‘In many cases, the application of the QOCS rules will have stark consequences for a successful defendant – and beneficial ramifications for the unsuccessful claimant.’ This article provides a practical guide to the cases in which courts have considered when the protection …

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Road Traffic Accidents: Owners, keepers and insurers

John McDonald sets out considerations for practitioners seeking compensation for claimants injured by unidentified drivers ‘If the owner (as opposed to the mere keeper) of the vehicle can be identified, it may be possible to fix them personally with liability for the accident.’Someone has been injured in a road traffic accident and wishes to bring …

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