Menus
January 2021 Contents
 Welcome to the January 2021 issue of PI Brief Update Law Journal. Click the relevant links below to read the articles. CPD Note that there are no new monthly CPD quizzes since the SRA and the BSB have both updated their CPD schemes to eliminate this requirement. Reading PIBULJ articles can still help to meet your CPD needs. For further details see our CPD Information page.
|
|
| Personal Injury Articles | |
 Godfrey v Automotive Products Limited (unreported, 17 December 2020) - Paul Erdunast, Temple Garden Chambers Can a Claimant who is required to take out a loan in order to fund litigation disbursements recover interest on the loan from the Defendant? DJ Baldwin, a regional costs judge, decided that the answer was 'yes' in theory, but he declined to exercise it where there was no evidence of the Claimant's finances or the loans market... |
 FREE CHAPTER AND FOREWORD from 'A Practical Guide to the Small Claims Track - 2nd Edition' by Dominic Bright A litigant in England and Wales is most likely to come into contact with the civil courts, principally the county court, in connection with a claim proceeding on the Small Claims Track which, despite the name, is the track to which nearly all the cases worth up to £10,000 are allocated, a very significant number of cases every year... |
 Devonshires Solicitors LLP v Elbishlawi and Lam Developments Ltd [2021] EWHC 173 (Comm) - Harry Peto, Temple Garden Chambers This was an application for summary judgment in respect of a claim for fees against the Defendants, who were former clients of the Claimant. The First Defendant was the beneficial owner of the Second Defendant property investment company... |
 Azam v University Hospital Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust [2020] EWHC 3384 (QB) - Paul Erdunast, Temple Garden Chambers This case is a helpful reminder that if a party wishes to rely on prejudice against it, it should provide evidence of such prejudice. This applies in numerous situations, such as applications for relief from sanctions, arguments about resiling from admissions, and in this case, which concerned whether to extend limitation to allow a claim being issued roughly 20 years out of date... |
 Asbestosis: assessing damages on a provisional basis - Jim Hester, Parklane Plowden Chambers Hamilton v NG Bailey Limited [2020] EWHC 2910 (QB) provides a useful view of how a court might approach quantum in an asbestosis case when considering damages on a provisional basis rather than as a full and final settlement. Those who deal regularly with such cases would be well advised to read the judgement in full... |
 Case Summary: M v W - Helen Reynolds, Spencers Solicitors The Claimant, aged 9 at the time of the accident, was riding his bike through the local park when he hit a tree stump, which was disguised by overgrown grass, causing him to fall from his bike. The Claimant suffered a fracture of his left arm with bruising to his face and leg... |
 Landmark Ruling Clarifies Accommodation Claims - Claire Burnell, Higgs & Sons The long-awaited Swift v Carpenter ruling gives solicitors some welcome clarity on how to assess accommodation claims for those suffering serious injury in the wake of an era of low interest rates... |
 Case Summary: W v UHD - Karen Cawood, Spencers Solicitors This is a clinical negligence claim. W was diagnosed with breast cancer in February 2016. It was a Grade 3 invasive carcinoma of the left breast. A biopsy also confirmed metastatic cancer to the left lymph nodes... |
| Clinical Negligence Medicine by Dr Mark Burgin | |
 Final Report from The President of the Family Division Working Group on Medical Experts in the Family Courts - Dr Mark Burgin Dr. Mark Burgin BM BCh (oxon) MRCGP explains how low fees, poor quality instructions from solicitors and criticism by courts is causing a perfect storm... |
 What Information should GPs record? - Dr Mark Burgin Dr. Mark Burgin BM BCh (oxon) MRCGP explains that GPs can record too much information and cause breaches of confidentiality... |
December 2020 Contents
 Welcome to the December 2020 issue of PI Brief Update Law Journal. Click the relevant links below to read the articles. CPD Note that there are no new monthly CPD quizzes since the SRA and the BSB have both updated their CPD schemes to eliminate this requirement. Reading PIBULJ articles can still help to meet your CPD needs. For further details see our CPD Information page.
|
|
| Personal Injury Articles | |
 Belsner v CAM Legal Services judgment raises more questions than answers - Ged Courtney, Kain Knight On Friday 16th October 2020, the Court handed down an eagerly-awaited judgement for personal injury lawyers. It was hoped that the appeal in Belsner v CAM Legal Services Limited [2020] EWHC 2755 (QB) would bring about a degree of certainty to firms of solicitors involved in disputes with their former clients, but in some ways it raises just as many questions as it answers... |
 FREE CHAPTER from 'A Practical Guide to Asbestos Claims' by Jonathan Owen & Gareth McAloon Chapter Three - A Brief History of Medical and Industrial Knowledge of Asbestos Risks - Despite the widespread use of asbestos in the 19th Century, medical science was such that an understanding of a potential link between respiratory conditions and exposure to asbestos dust did not really begin to develop until the very end of that century... |
 FREE CHAPTER from 'A Practical Guide to Claims Arising from Fatal Accidents - 2nd Edition' by James Patience Chapter Three - The Fatal Accidents Act 1976 - This Act is one of the main considerations for the practitioner when considering a claim for damages for wrongful death. The Fatal Accidents Act 1976 repealed the relevant provisions of the previous Fatal Accident Acts1 and applies to any death occurring after the 1st of September 1976... |
 Case Summary: M v L - Steven Barke,Spencers Solicitors Limited The Claimant was driving her employer's vehicle round a bend on 21 November 2016 when the Defendant was driving on the wrong side of the road. The Claimant swerved to avoid the Defendant, but the Defendant drove into the driver's side of the Claimant's car. The airbags were deployed... |
 How well do law firms understand their clients and the effectiveness of their own marketing? - Qamar Anwar, First4Lawyers This year more than any in recent memory has highlighted how much businesses need to be aware of their costs and budgets. Businesses can be forgiven for not having predicted an unforeseen global pandemic, but what about what's been right in front of them for some time?... |
 Summary of Recent Cases, December 2020 Here is a summary of the recent notable court cases over the past month... |
 PI Practitioner, December 2020 Each issue a particular topic is highlighted, citing some of the useful cases and other materials in that area. This month: Guest Supplies Intl Ltd v South Place Hotel Ltd & Anor [2020] EWHC 3307 (QB)... |
|
| Clinical Negligence Medicine by Dr Mark Burgin | |
 How Value Based Healthcare Embeds Clinical Negligence - Dr Mark Burgin Dr. Mark Burgin BM BCh (oxon) MRCGP explains how a management theory called Value Based Healthcare (VBH) makes clinical negligence difficult to avoid... |
 Choosing A Medical Expert for A Clinical Negligence Case - Dr Mark Burgin Dr. Mark Burgin BM BCh (oxon) MRCGP explains a logical approach for solicitors to identifying the key skills that your clinical negligence case will require... |
| Medico-Legal Articles, Edited by Dr Hugh Koch | |
 Can Data Breach result in Psychological Injury? - Professor Hugh Koch, Dr Joe Grace, Dr Fay Huntley & Michael Davies Data breaches concerning individuals and organisations are increasingly common, with sensitive data breaches having a number of negative consequences. These have been discussed in depth. They focused especially on the psychological effects a data breach can have, over and above any financial loss to the victim. Common data breach types include database hacking, local authority and council breaches, and card skimming and financial attacks... |
|
November 2020 Contents
 Welcome to the November 2020 issue of PI Brief Update Law Journal. Click the relevant links below to read the articles. CPD Note that there are no new monthly CPD quizzes since the SRA and the BSB have both updated their CPD schemes to eliminate this requirement. Reading PIBULJ articles can still help to meet your CPD needs. For further details see our CPD Information page.
|
|
| Personal Injury Articles | |
 Sports Injuries and the Law - Michelle Liddy, Oriel Chambers Very often in sports there are incidents which lawyers must wonder about in a way that others may not. When Luis Suarez bit off more than he could chew in Liverpool’s Premier League encounter with Chelsea in April 2013 there was a storm of controversy. If the same incident had occurred on the street rather than on the pitch nobody would have been surprised if civil or even criminal action was initiated... |
 FREE CHAPTER from 'A Practical Guide to Costs in Personal Injury Claims - 2nd Edition' by Matthew Hoe It’s two decades since the CPR came in. Costs are now fixed; many of the problems with costs are fixed; but costs law is anything but simple. There is so much you need to know. This book is the place to start. It’s an everyday guide to the everyday issues, with each point covered in a bitesize format. Don’t know how the rules apply in the circumstances of your claim? Find it here. Can’t remember the name of that key case? Find it here. Need a quick guide on the law in a specific area? Find it here... |
 FREE CHAPTER from 'A Practical Guide to the Compensation Recovery Unit and NHS Charges in Personal Injury Claims in England & Wales' by Andrew Cousins The Compensation Recovery Unit provides a system whereby the Department for Work and Pensions may clawback a proportion of some of the damages awarded or agreed to be paid to a person in respect of certain state benefits obtained by that person in consequence of an accident, injury or disease... |
Summary of Recent Cases, November 2020 Here is a summary of the recent notable court cases over the past month... |
| PI Practitioner, November 2020 Each issue a particular topic is highlighted, citing some of the useful cases and other materials in that area. This month: Swift v Carpenter [2020] EWCA Civ 1467... |
|
| Clinical Negligence Medicine by Dr Mark Burgin | |
 Does the insurance policy cover COVID-19? - Dr Mark Burgin Dr. Mark Burgin BM BCh (oxon) MRCGP discusses the role of the medical expert in interpreting insurance policies and whether a primer would be useful... |
 Sources of Data for Monitoring Expert Performance - Dr Mark Burgin Dr. Mark Burgin BM BCh (oxon) MRCGP considers what sources are available for monitoring of experts and how to maximise the benefit from that data... |
| Medico-Legal Articles, Edited by Dr Hugh Koch | |
 What the Judge thought of the expert evidence - (Koch HCH, Rydin-Orwin T, Riggs E, Gorman J and Jansen F, 2020) This is the thirty-second in a series of Case reports and Commentaries from Professor Koch and colleagues. Case: Pepe’s Piri Ltd. vs. Junaid and Food Trends ltd. (and others). 31.7.19. Citation No: [2019] EWHC 2097 (QB). This case involved the claim for damages due to alleged injuries to the claimants’ business by unlawful means... |
|
October 2020 Contents
 Welcome to the October 2020 issue of PI Brief Update Law Journal. Click the relevant links below to read the articles. CPD Note that there are no new monthly CPD quizzes since the SRA and the BSB have both updated their CPD schemes to eliminate this requirement. Reading PIBULJ articles can still help to meet your CPD needs. For further details see our CPD Information page.
|
|
| Personal Injury Articles | |
 Swift v Carpenter and the Cost of Special Accommodation - Carin Hunt, Outer Temple Chambers The case of Swift v Carpenter was heard by the Court of Appeal on 23 -25 June 2020 and judgment is eagerly awaited by catastrophic injury practitioners. This article gives a quick overview of what is in dispute... |
 FREE CHAPTER from 'A Practical Guide to the Law of Medical Treatment Decisions' by Ben Troke Decisions about medical treatment can be about life and death, such as withdrawal of treatment or (not) providing CPR. Or about quality of life, liberty and independence, which can be just as important. But the legal (and ethical) framework around these decisions is often misunderstood, leading to distress and disputes at the very worst of times. We have seen this in a few very high-profile cases, but there will have been untold others in private... |
 FREE CHAPTER from 'A Practical Guide to Clinical Negligence - 2nd Edition' by Geoffrey Simpson-Scott... Modern clinical negligence litigation remains complex. It requires the detailed and accurate assessment of the case; an understanding of many different areas of medicine and clinical practice; and the ability to marshal seemingly ambiguous evidence in a way which best meets your client's needs... |
 Clinical Negligence Claims and the Myth of Defensive Medicine - Paul Sankey, Enable Law Do claims for damages risk encouraging defensive medicine? Lord Justice Irwin thought so and described it as 'self-evident' in a 2017 Court of Appeal judgment[1]. In fact, he had probably fallen victim to a myth. A recent paper by Paula Case, who has looked at 50 years of research on the subject, has exposed a lack of rigour in the evidence supporting what we may call the defensive medicine argument... |
 How will COVID-19 change the personal injury landscape? - Kelvin Farmaner, Trethowans LLP & David Wilson, Van Ameyde UK Limited In the motor insurance space the headline news is that there has been a downward trend in terms of claims volumes... |
Summary of Recent Cases, October 2020 Here is a summary of the recent notable court cases over the past month... |
| PI Practitioner, October 2020 Each issue a particular topic is highlighted, citing some of the useful cases and other materials in that area. This month: Swift v Carpenter... |
|
| Clinical Negligence Medicine by Dr Mark Burgin | |
 Top 10 Ways That Defendant Solicitors Win Clear Cut Cases - Dr Mark Burgin Dr. Mark Burgin BM BCh (oxon) MRCGP describes the top 10 techniques used by defendant solicitors to kill a case where there is no real chance of defendants wining... |
 How Medical Accidents Happen - Dr Mark Burgin Dr. Mark Burgin BM BCh (oxon) MRCGP describes how best care can be a fail-dangerous system that make medical accidents inevitable... |
September 2020 Contents
 Welcome to the September 2020 issue of PI Brief Update Law Journal. Click the relevant links below to read the articles. CPD Note that there are no new monthly CPD quizzes since the SRA and the BSB have both updated their CPD schemes to eliminate this requirement. Reading PIBULJ articles can still help to meet your CPD needs. For further details see our CPD Information page.
|
|
| Personal Injury Articles | |
| Clinical Consent: Where Are We Now? - Ruwena Khan, Park Square Barristers Clinical negligence litigation continues apace; the doctor-patient relationship ever-evolving, medical professional guidance adapting and incremental changes to the common law running in tandem. Who knows how the law will change, if at all, following what we hope will eventually be a swift and safe conclusion to the current global pandemic. Will there be significant numbers of cases brought in relation Covid-19 medical treatment: inadequate facilities and staff being... |
 Griffiths v TUI UK Limited [2020] EWHC 2268 (QB): The Court may not depart from uncontroverted expert evidence - Sam Way, Devereux Chambers In a judgment which will have wide-ranging implications across lower value personal injury claims, Martin Spencer J has confirmed that where a court is presented with uncontroverted expert evidence which complies with the requirements for admissibility under CPR Part 35, the Court cannot depart from that evidence. Although the judgment does not break new ground, it provides valuable resistance against arguments aimed at undermining expert evidence which often find favour with District Judges... |
 Medical Protection Society successful with fundamental dishonesty ruling - Louise Jackson, Browne Jacobson In Simpson v Payne, the Defendant Applicant (Defendant) was successful before His Honour Judge Murdoch in their application for a finding of fundamental dishonesty against the Claimant resulting in an enforceable costs order against the Claimant directly... |
 The White Book must not be thrown out of the window! - Mark James, Temple Garden Chambers Nearly 600,000 personal injury cases valued at less than £25,000 are commenced in the Pre-Action Protocol for Low Value Personal Injury Claims in Road Traffic Accidents ("the PAP") each year. Many are settled or drop out of the PAP (e.g. because liability is disputed). However, a significant minority are stayed under paras. 5.7 and/or 7.12 of the PAP, using the Part 8 procedure under CPR 8BPD, to stop time running under the Limitation Act 1980 and/or to allow the claimant time to obtain expert reports... |
| What is the test of breach of duty in pure diagnosis cases? - Paul Sankey, Enable Law When it comes to treatment, the test of breach of duty is the Bolam test. A different test applies to providing information to patients since Montgomery v Lanarkshire Health Board[1]. What is the test for pure diagnosis? |
Summary of Recent Cases, September 2020 Here is a summary of the recent notable court cases over the past month... |
| PI Practitioner, September 2020 Each issue a particular topic is highlighted, citing some of the useful cases and other materials in that area. This month: Griffiths v TUI UK Ltd [2020] EWHC 2268 (QB) |
|
| Clinical Negligence Medicine by Dr Mark Burgin | |
 The Impact on PI Law of The New Sentencing (Equality) Guidelines - Dr Mark Burgin Dr. Mark Burgin BM BCh (oxon) MRCGP explains how the move to Disability Analysis Reports (DAR) in The New Sentencing Guidelines will change Equality Act 2010 issues in PI law... |
|
![Appeal judge rules that credit hire company has no costs liability following a finding of fundamental dishonesty in personal injury case: RSA v. Fastrack Solutions Limited [2023] 4 WLUK 92 - David Bowden, Erimus Chambers](/content/images/resized/images/stories/carkeys_72_72.jpg)
