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What is not clear from the report is whether this was a 90% offer on liability or a 90% offer in respect of pleaded quantum (liability being in dispute).

However on reading the Judgment it was a liability offer, and it would appear that the basis of the proposed reduction maybe that there was potential for finding that the mother by her actions was in some way partially (although to a minimum extent) liable, well that is the inference I draw from my reading of para 69 of the Judgment.

Para 68 of the Judgment reads

'It took a little while during the trial for the true battleground between the parties to emerge. Each side claimed "the moral high ground" on the basis of consistency of position in the litigation. Unfortunately, and, in my view, surprisingly, there has been some general looseness of language which has obscured the real issue until it emerged more clearly during the trial.'

In a tragic case such as this it is disappointing to see that the animus of the NHS (or those that defend them) is such that it allows the case to be presented in this fashion: I forgive the parent(s) and their solicitors from any lapse in forensic impartiality as they have suffered the most horrendous events.