PIBULJ
Tripping Through a Straitened 2011 - Richard Tutt, Pump Court Chambers
22/02/12. Read on if you seek an overview of the law as it relates to tripping on public highways, seen through two appeals to the higher courts in 2011. First, the principal modern authority on tripping cases, Mills v Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council [1992] PIQR P 291. I will not rehearse sections 41, 58 and 329 of the Highways Act 1980 herein (ed. would have a fit), but have them to mind/hand.
On Wednesday 1 March 1989 Mrs Mills tripped and fell when walking along Market Street Barnsley. She was wearing relatively high-heeled shoes. The area consisted of paved slabs broken up with paving bricks. The corner of one of the paving bricks had broken away. The heel of Mrs Mills’ shoe became caught in the gap created (some 2“ at its widest point and some 3/4” deep). She fell, sustaining injury.
The Defendant Council was the highway authority. The highway was inspected once a month. Had the missing corner of the brick been noticed it would...
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How Does the Ministry of Justice Consultation on County Court Reform Affect Mediation in Personal Injury Claims? - Tim Wallis, Trust Mediation Ltd
20/02/12. The MoJ issued its consultation paper, about creating a simpler, quicker and more proportionate system for the county courts, in March 2011. In February 2012 it issued its response on the consultation. It is clear from this that a number of reforms are contemplated and these will probably be implemented at the same time as those relating to the Jackson reforms and the ban on referral fees. In the introduction to the consultation response Rt. Hon. Kenneth Clarke QC MP, Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice, and Jonathan Dganogly, MP, Justice Minister, concluded that although the county court had many strengths it was in fact a system that is not working as well as it should. The aim of the reforms outlined in the consultation paper “….is to deliver a system that prevents the unnecessary escalation of disputes before cases reach the court room; where the courts offer quicker and more efficient services where they are needed…..” The changes most likely to impact on personal injury practitioners are those concerned with extending the RTA protocol to deal with RTA claims up to £25,000 and also employers’ liability/public liability claims. Further, it is clear that there is going to be a considerable extension of the fixed costs regime.
In addition there are a number of other changes which, in due course, are likely to see an increase in mediation in the personal injury sector. These will now be examined in more detail.
Small Claims and Automatic Referral to Mediation
Although the small claims limit for personal injury and housing cases will remain the same the financial limit for the small claims track will be increased from £5,000 to £10,000. Further, there will be an automatic referral to mediation for all claims in the small claims track. The MoJ make it clear that this is not...
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February 2012 - PI Practitioner
• Knightly v Johns & Ors [1982] 1 WLR 349 - a policeman (D3) was called to the scene of an accident in a tunnel, which had been caused by negligent driving of D1. He realised that he had not closed the mouth of the tunnel and sent two colleagues (one of them C) back on motorbikes to do so. They rode on the wrong side of the road around a blind bend and were hit by a car being driven by D2. C sued Ds 1 - 3 and the Chief Constable (D4).
HELD - D1 and D2 were not liable. D1's driving had been negligent but there was a break in the chain of causation between that negligence and the injury to C. That break was D3 having sent C and his colleague back to close the mouth of the tunnel.
• In McFarlane v EE Caledonia [1994] 2 All ER 1 - Stuart-Smith LJ gave judgment in a case concerning psychiatric injury to people on rescue boats who observed victims of the Piper Alpha disaster meet their death. At 10 - 11 he held that -
'A rescuer is entitled to put his own safety at risk, but not that of others, unless they too consent to be part of the rescue... If [the captain of the rescue vessel] had negligently and in breach of his duty taken the vessel into a position of danger where those on board were injured or reasonably feared injury this would be a novus actus interveniens and not something for which the defendants would be liable.
...A reasonable man in the position of the defendant should foresee that if his negligence caused such a catastrophic emergency, those in charge of rescue vessels may not be able to judge to a nicety exactly how near it is safe to bring their vessels.'
• According to Clerk & Lindsell (20th Edn.) at 8-32, 'An error of judgment in organising an emergency rescue will rarely amount the negligence'.
Cruise Claims: What’s Been Happening and Where are we Going? - Sarah Prager, 1 Chancery Lane
16/02/12. In the last year the courts have heard a number of interesting claims arising out of cruise holidays. In the years to come, practitioners will no doubt have cause to consider the issues arising out of the recent wreck of the Costa Concordia. In this article Sarah Prager gives an overview of two cases from last year and considers what is likely to come.
Williams v Fred Olsen
On 15th July 2011 the Admiralty Division gave judgment in the case of Williams & others v Fred Olsen Cruise Lines Ltd, 15th July 2011. In that case the operation of the maxim res ipsa loquitur fell to be considered in the context of a collapsing gangplank which almost had fatal results.
The Claimants were passengers on the Defendant’s cruise ship. They were boarding the ship after an excursion in Bilbao, when the vessel suddenly moved away from the quayside, causing the First and Second Claimants, a crew member and the accommodation ladder to fall into the water. The Master of the vessel gave evidence that...
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Marketing your Practice - Social Media: Social or anti-social? Minefields or Goldmines? - Jenny Cotton, Mortons Marketing
15/02/12. Social media offer not only paid for advertising opportunities but open participation in your messages. These social media contributions by others makes the communication exchange more like traditional targeted PR than controlled content advertising. Social media have proved to be essential for reaching key audiences rapidly. Effectiveness and costs can be and have been proved to be difficult to judge in advance. What should the practice and brand responses be to this potential for great good and yet great concern?
Rewards can be great
Plans for the stock market flotation of Facebook have shown great potential for that business, their advertisers have demonstrated growing support which is presumed to be based on satisfactory returns on their investments. Social media as a group can be used to broadcast messages, for paid ads, for content updates/extensions, for monitoring and lifting profile and for one to one communication, generating leads, for developing loyalty. Social media include transmission of text, audio, video, voting and a huge range of apps.
The dark side concerns the potential of the...
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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)
