PIBULJ
May 2012 - PI Practitioner
1. The usual approach is to make a single award for damages at large and aggravated damages in assault cases, rather than making separate awards under each head: see Richardson v Howie [2005] PIQR Q48 per Thomas LJ at paragraph 23.
2. Choudhary v Martins [2008] 1 WLR 617 - Smith LJ at paragraph 18 held that 'If...psychiatric harm is very modest and to all intents and purposes merges with injury to feelings, it will plainly be more convenient to make one award covering both aspects.'
3. Fuk Wan Hau v Shushing Jim & Anor. [2007] EWHC 3358 (QB), LTL 19 December 2007 John Leighton-Williams QC made an award for pain and suffering following an assault which incorporated an aggravated damages award.
4. In AB & Ors v The Nugent Care Society (Formerly Catholic Services Liverpool) [2010] EWHC 1005 (QB), which concerned historic sexual abuse in a children's home, one of the claimants (known as JA) was found to have suffered sexual abuse but had not suffered from an identifiable psychiatric illness or disorder as a consequence of that abuse: 'JA has at all times been within the range of psychological normality' (at paragraph 87). Taking into account Richardsonand the subsequent authorities, the court continued at paragraph 93 that 'The approach I adopt in a case where no discrete psychiatric disorder is demonstrated, is to consider the adverse psychiatric consequences as part of the picture to be borne in mind when considering the level of damages at large for the assault itself'. In JA's case, the damages awarded as a global sum were £10,000. This was an award to reflect three separate episodes of sexual abuse.
The Taylor Review - David Taylor, Forum of Insurance Lawyers
17/05/12. In May of last year Sheriff Principal Taylor began a review of the expenses and funding regimes of litigation in Scotland. The Taylor Review was commenced under the recommendation of the Lord Justice Clerk, Lord Gill, to conduct an independent inquiry into the expenses regime of civil litigation in Scotland and its funding in the context of the recommendations of the Scottish Civil Courts Review. With the consultation now closed, it falls upon Sheriff Principal Taylor to incorporate the responses he invited from the legal world before submitting his final report to Scottish Ministers for further consideration.
FOIL does not believe the Scottish costs/expenses system requires such a radical review or revision as has been required in England and Wales. Scotland has not experienced the problems which have arisen from referral fees, success fees, ATE insurance and satellite costs litigation. We believe therefore that there are dangers in seeking to address such issues as may validly arise from the costs/expenses system in Scotland by applying the solutions arrived at in England and Wales.
In Scotland there is a long tradition of...
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May 2012 - Industry News
BBC
Government publishes response to Transport Committee report...
UK Parliament
ABI demands that Government act to curb excessive legal costs...
Association of British Insurers
Mesothelioma victims to be spared from Jackson reforms...
Solicitors Journal
Ministry of Justice closes down hundreds of claims management companies...
Law Society Gazette
Moodys warns reinsurers over Periodical Payment Orders...
Insurance Times
Lie-catching and Deception Detection - Jon willows, Louise De Haro and Hugh Koch
10/05/12. Being able to detect deceit is critical in the civil and criminal justice systems as well as in many clinical and applied settings. We all know, however, how difficult this can be. In a recent paper in Legal and Criminological Psychology, Kristine Peace and Sarah Sinclair discuss how this multifaceted process challenges us all. They investigated whether there was what they refer to as an "emotive truth bias" operating in deception detection such that we are we more likely to judge...
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Whiten v St George’s Healthcare NHS Trust [2011] EWHC 2066 (QB): Part 2 - William Latimer-Sayer, Cloisters
08/05/12. In the second part of this article I continue to highlight some points arising from Swift J’s judgment in Whiten v St George’s Healthcare NHS Trust [2011] EWHC 2066 (QB).
Future Loss of Earnings
There were various issues regarding the calculation of future earnings as follows:
(a) The start date for the loss;
(b) The appropriate multiplicand;
(c) The discount for contingencies other than mortality;
(d) A discount for expenses.
It was argued on the Claimant’s behalf that he came from a family of high achievers. His parents had previously enjoyed high earnings, albeit disrupted by the Claimant’s injuries. A claim was advanced based upon...
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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)
