June 2013 #116 – Law Journals

Surveillance: Are you being watched?

Patrick Vincent and Tom Banks analyse the effect of costs budgets and the new case management powers ‘The principle that defendants ought to be able to gather surveillance without telling the claimant is impossible to reconcile with advertising the existence of surveillance in a budget forecast.’ Surveillance is a familiar battleground for PI lawyers. But …

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Civil Litigation: Compensation for child abuse

Stephanie Prior looks at recent media events and the difficulties faced by victims pursuing claims ‘Civil claims against individuals are often very complex. The individual abuser will be the defendant and it is essential to ascertain from the outset whether or not they are able to pay compensation.’ One only needs to glimpse at the …

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Case Report: The Chief Constable of Hampshire Police v Taylor [2013] EWCA Civ 496

Employers’ liability; breach and causation; Personal Protective Equipment Regulations ‘This case illustrates the need to identify the statutory criteria as interpreted by the relevant authorities and focus evidence and arguments accordingly.’ This case provides a telling illustration of the stringency of the Personal Protective Equipment Regulations 1992 (the PPE Regulations) and the evidential difficulties a …

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Highway Claims: Establishing a section 58 defence

Mark Fowles considers the status of The Code of Practice for Highway Maintenance following the recent Court of Appeal decision of TR v Devon County Council ‘Hughes LJ emphasised that the importance of the Code of Practice for Highway Maintenance should not be overrated. It had no statutory basis and was no more than evidence …

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Costs Budgeting: An overview and commentary

Justin Valentine highlights the issues and gives practical advice ‘Costs budgets must provide a detailed breakdown for each stage of the case, identifying costs and disbursements already incurred and providing estimates of future costs with details of assumptions on which the estimates are based.’ As a parallel development to the intended introduction of fixed costs …

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Civil Procedure Rules: Expert witnesses and damages-based agreements – do they mix?

Ian Gascoigne discusses the potential pitfalls ‘An expert retained in any contentious proceedings must not enter into any arrangement that could compromise his impartiality, nor make a payment to him dependent on the outcome of the case.’ Whenever a revision occurs in the court rules, the role of the expert witness becomes a more difficult …

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Investment: Managing damages awards post settlement

Andrew Sands and Nick Leech explain what is involved in setting up an investment strategy aimed at ensuring that lump-sum awards of damages last as intended ‘Once the claimant’s capital and income needs have been ascertained, the remaining balance must be managed on a sustainable basis. One of the principal factors is establishing the attitude …

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Costs: Credit where credit is due

Paul Jones examines a recent case that illustrates how courts may approach new funding arrangements In the post-Jackson epoch, the litigation funding options will take some time to settle down. Gone will be the ubiquitous Conditional Fee Agreement (CFA) where all the costs (including success fee and ATE premium) were payable by the losing party …

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