PIBULJ
Patrick Joseph Hannon v Hillingdon Homes Ltd (2012): Liability for Defective Premises - Flora Wood, Partner, Ashfords Solicitors
11/09/12. In the recent case of Patrick Joseph Hannon v Hillingdon Homes Ltd the High Court found in favour of the Claimant in respect of the serious injury to his ankle he sustained after falling on an open sided staircase that had no banister. The Claimant, a heating engineer, was employed by a company that was contracted to maintain local authority housing managed by the Defendant. The repairs being undertaken on the day of the accident required...
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Will the Court allow an insurer to make a profit on vehicle repair costs? - Flora Wood, Partner, Ashfords Solicitors
11/09/12. The 13 actions that combined in the recent Royal and Sun Alliance Test Cases (Coles, Wood-head, Crother v Heatherton, Guy, Thomas) answered the question: can an insurer make a profit on vehicle repair costs? Given the Court's usually harsh view of unnecessary and frivolous costs, the somewhat surprising answer at present is yes, they can.
The cases examined by the High Court involved road traffic accidents in which a vehicle insured by Royal and Sun Alliance Insurance Plc (RSA) was...
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Autonotes in Dental Records - Mike Hill, Trinity Chambers
07/09/12. Autonotes are common in dental records. They can be everything from a computer-generated sentence inserted by pressing a shortcut key, to whole accounts of the treatment carried out. In themselves there is nothing wrong with autonotes but they do threaten to damage the dentist’s greatest advantage in a negligence claim: the sanctity of contemporaneous records.
Contemporaneous records are often the silver bullet in medical and dental negligence claims. Most claims are at least a year old before there is any real progress. The cause of action and the factual scenario will therefore be completely...
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NZ Supreme Court Rethinks Compensation for Failed Sterilisation, What can Britain Learn? - Therese Wallin
06/09/12. In a recent ruling, the Supreme Court of New Zealand has overturned a Court of Appeal judgment, and ruled that victims of failed sterilisation, due to medical negligence, are entitled to seek compensation from the Accident Compensation Corporation. This is the body responsible for implementing the Accident Compensation Act 2001. This article contrasts the legal approach taken in New Zealand with that of the England and considers potential insights to the latter.
Consequences of failed sterilisation or failed vasectomy
Occasionally, sterilisations and vasectomy prove to be unsuccessful because of natural causes. However, it can also be due to a medical failure during the procedure. Failed sterilisation, or for failed vasectomy in the case of men, can have distressing consequences for those affected, and infringe on a person's intended life path.
Legal regime in the UK
In the United Kingdom, if a woman is impregnated...
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Rome II: Mystery Solved - Jasmine Murphy, Hardwicke
06/09/12. It has been said that the wheels of justice turn slowly, but it has only taken 4 years since EC Regulation No 864/2007 (Rome II) was published for the debate about when the national courts should start applying it to finally be settled. Mrs Justice Slade hearing Homawoo v GMF Assurances SA in the High Court took action to obtain clarity by referring questions to the Court of Justice of the European Union. In November 2011 the ECJ gave a ruling in the case of Homawoo. The decision of the ECJ was that a national court must apply Rome II to events giving rise to damage occurring after 11 January 2009.
The difficulty arose because Article 31 of Rome II stated "This Regulation shall apply to events giving rise to damage which occur after its entry into force." So far, so clear. When did the Regulation come into force? The general rule...
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![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)
