February 2011 #92 – Law Journals

Clinical Negligence: The Damages Act 1996

Julian Matthews looks at the latest authorities concerning the discount rate ‘The computation of continuing losses in clinical negligence and personal injury claims is entirely dependent upon the assessment of the multiplier. Traditionally the multiplier was assessed by the courts on the basis of precedent.’ In early November 2010 the Lord Chancellor announced a review …

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Costs: Recoverability

Paul Jones considers when predictable costs apply ‘If neither fixed predictable costs nor fixed small claims track costs applied, then the only remaining option was for reasonable costs on the standard basis to be payable.’ One of the central tenets of the proposed reforms to civil legal costs is that increased use of fixed costs …

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Right Of Way: Hazards of livestock

Simon Blackburn examines livestock owners’ legal responsibilities to the public ‘The defendant was liable for his negligence in not having properly considered the risk that his cattle posed to members of the public’ The case of McKaskie v Cameron (2009) serves as an illustration that defendants to personal injury claims are just as vulnerable when …

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Liability: Beware of the dark

Emma Zeb focuses on the social benefit of an activity versus the risks of injury ‘The law of tort exists to deter negligent conduct, but it should not serve to stamp out every “iota” of risk or deter “desirable activity”.’I suspect that, for most of the 237th Castle Bromwich Scout Group, Mr Newsome was one …

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CRPS: Unusual response to injury

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Dr Peter Hollingworth discusses how to approach claims for complex regional pain syndrome ‘The cardinal feature of CRPS is pain wholly disproportionate to that expected from the injury. The pain is both at rest and on movement, and it interferes with sleep and everyday activities.’ Complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS) is an uncommon condition in …

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RTA: Consumer contracts

Andrew Hogan investigates credit hire agreements in view of Chen Wei v Cambridge Power and Light Ltd ‘Even if an agreement is unenforceable in the sense that a money judgment cannot be obtained against the debtor, it does not necessarily follow, in 2011, that the rule against double recovery would be offended if the hirer …

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Life Expectancy: Calculation of multipliers

Richard Lodge reviews the court’s approach to applying Ogden Tables 1, 2 and 28 ‘Those involved in personal injury litigation will be aware that defendants routinely argue that Table 1 or 2 is the appropriate method for calculation of the life multiplier. This argument should not be assumed to be correct, however, and much depends …

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CPR: Timely delivery

Emma Hearn reports on service and Part 6 of the Civil Procedure Rules ‘Once a solicitor has indicated that he has instructions to accept service, the mentioning of the fax number on their letter heading means that service may be affected on them by fax. In this case neither of the firms of solicitors acting …

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