All articles by Simon Allen
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FeaturePI: calculating disadvantage
Assessment of loss for the future earning capacity of those suffering residual disability through injury has always been unsatisfactory.
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FeatureCivil procedure: relief from sanctions
An overview and guidance for solicitors currently dealing with the changes post-Mitchell.
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FeatureVicarious liability – the two-stage test
When is an employer responsible for the actions of its employees?
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FeatureReasonable foreseeability
The opportunity for a claimant injured at work to rely on a statutory breach was reduced on 1 October by the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act (ERRA) 2013.
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Feature
Mesothelioma Bill
‘One has also to bear in mind that, typically, the worst symptoms of pain, suffering and loss of amenity occur in the last weeks and days of the disease’s progress and that the death… is a horrible one.’(Senior Master Whitaker: Smith v Bolton Copper Limited: Unreported 10 July 2007 QBD) ...
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Law Report
Reasonable foreseeability
Hide v Steeplechase Co (Cheltenham) Limited and Others (2013) EWCA Civ 545 (Longmore, McFarlane and Davis LJJ)
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News
Contributory negligence: employee or lawful visitor?
In Sharp v Top Flight Scaffolding Ltd, the claimant was so badly injured in the accident that at trial he was a protected party represented by his brother as litigation friend. Mr Sharp was a 43-year-old scaffolder employed by the defendant, who fell while attempting ...
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News
Nervous shock and secondary victims
A secondary victim is someone who, when witnessing an accident, suffers injury consequential upon the injury, or fear of injury, to a primary victim. Because of the potential for multiple claims for damages arising out of a single accident, the courts have been anxious to restrict the numbers of claimants ...
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News
What is a disease?
A primary flaw in the Jackson reforms’ vision of the personal injury landscape is a profound inability to comprehend that the value of a claim in damages is but one of the variables which has to be assessed when applying the proportionality principle. In the UK, fault has to be ...
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News
Increase in damages by 10%
In Simmons v Castle [2012] EWCA Civ 1039, the Court of Appeal has added to the general splashing about which precedes the enactment of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012. In an effort to provide ‘proper, prospective warning’, it has jumped in ahead of the implementation ...
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News
Case management - a more robust approach
Guntrip v Cheney Coaches Ltd, [2012] EWCA Civ 392, Ward, Elias and Lewison LJJ; Fred Perry Holdings Ltd v Brands Plaza Trading Ltd & Another [2012] EWCA Civ 224, Jackson and Lewison LJJ.
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News
Valuation of general damages in mesothelioma claims
Unless one has been in a life-threatening situation, it is impossible to grasp the concept of imminent mortality. When young, human beings are blinded from seeing the horizon of their lives by the light of expectation.
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News
Violent employees and vicarious liability
In recent times a disproportionate number of cases concerning vicarious liability have reached the higher courts. Sadly, a number of these have involved abuse of children by members of the clergy. Violence is a common feature, though financial wrongdoing was the offence in Dubai Aluminium Company Ltd v Salaam [2003] ...
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News
Dishonesty, statements of truth, and Jackson
It is a strange world. The perception was, and remains, that legal costs in fast-track road traffic claims are disproportionate to damages. The solution was to ask a senior judge, Lord Justice Jackson, with minimal practical experience of personal injury litigation, to review and report. ...
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News
Personal injury caused by a hazardous floor
Hufton v Somerset County Council [2011] EWCA Civ 789. The claimant was a pupil at the defendant’s school. She suffered an injury to her knee when slipping on water on the wooden floor of the assembly hall when re-entering the building during the morning break. ...
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News
Video evidence; and assessing an unsafe system of work
Disclosure of video evidence – Douglas v O’Neill. This High Court decision helpfully summarises the existing law relating to CPR 31 and (late) disclosure of video footage. The claimant (C) was badly injured when knocked over by a car driven by the ...
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News
Disclosure of expert medical evidence
If a claimant instructs expert A, but then does not wish to rely upon the content of his report, can he instruct expert B without having to disclose expert A’s report? The assumption that claimant lawyers have historically made is ‘yes’ – privilege applies.
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News
Uren v Corporate Leisure (UK) Ltd and Ministry of Defence
Mr Uren was a member of the RAF who suffered a spinal injury when taking part in a ‘health and fun day’, during which he dived head first into an inflatable pool containing water with a depth of 18 inches while competing to collect pieces of plastic fruit. ...
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News
Scouting – social value and balancing risk
The Scout Association v Barnes [2010] EWCA Civ 1476 (Lord Justice Ward, Lady Justice Smith and Lord Justice Jackson) When 13 years of age, the claimant suffered injuries valued at £7,000 in an accident ...