PIBULJ
Cruise Slips: Dawkins v Carnival Plc t/a P&O Cruises [2011] EWCA CIV 1237 - Howard Stevens, 3 Hare Court
12/12/11. The claimant appealed against the judgment of a Recorder, dismissing her claim for damages for personal injury. The claimant was a passenger on board a cruise ship operated by the defendant sailing in international waters. As she was walking through the ship’s restaurant she slipped on some liquid (probably water) and fell, injuring her knees and wrists.
The claimant’s carriage on board the ship was governed by the Athens Convention 1974 [100]. This has the force of law in the UK under s.183 of the Merchant Shipping Act 1995. As such the claimant needed to establish not that the defendant was negligent, but the incident which caused her damage occurred...
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December 2011 - Industry News
Law Society Gazette
...whilst economists estimate that the reforms will cost ￡70m per annum...
Law Society Gazette
APIL warns that PI reforms could leave claims management companies dealing with complex cases...
New Law Journal
Claims Standards Council threatens judicial review over referral fee ban...
Claims Standards Council
...whereas Kennedys warn of loophole in proposed ban ...
Kennedys
¾ of healthcare professionals believe that the whiplash compensation system is open to fraud...
Insurance Medical Group
'Solicitors from Hell' web-site shut down...
Telegraph
Löfstedt: Prolegal comment on the report - Susan Brown, Director and Head of Personal Injury and Professional Negligence, Prolegal
09/12/11. Professor Lofstedt’s report is in fact very sensible and measured, and certainly makes no concessions to tabloid hysteria about the horrors of “elf and safety” law. Professor Lofstedt confirms that there is no case for radically altering health and safety legislation, that the current regime places responsibility primarily on those who create the risks, enabling them to control them in a proportionate manner, and states that there is evidence to suggest that proportionate risk management can make good business sense. He considers that the problem lies less with the regulations themselves and more with the way they are interpreted and applied.
In terms of the proposals that would affect personal injury claims, while confirming that the compensation culture is a myth and that it is media coverage and the false perception that impacts employer behaviour rather than any real increase in...
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Löfstedt: FOIL comment on the report - Don Clarke, President of Forum of Insurance Lawyers
09/12/11. If you’re looking for a view on the health and safety report recently published by Prof. Löfstedt you can pay your money and take your choice: for the Daily Telegraph it demonstrated that EU safety rules are “costly and pointless”; the TUC regretted the “missed opportunity” to improve safety; and the Forum for Private Business was pleased to see a “health and safety bonfire”. So what is the key message?
This is a report more about consolidation than abolition. Only three obsolete regulations are recommended for repeal with a further handful to be reviewed to reduce bureaucracy and increase proportionality.
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Bent: A Credit Hire Perspective - Steve Evans, Chief Executive of Accident Exchange
06/12/11. On 24 November, the Court of Appeal overruled the judgment handed down by Judge Plumstead in the matter of Darren Bent v Highways & Utilities Construction plc and Allianz Insurance plc in February 2011. In a victory for common sense, the presiding Lords provided clarity in a case which, they felt, allowed it to “review the basis upon which Courts determine the so-called 'spot rates' recoverable in this type of case.” The successful judgment brings to an end a legal challenge that irrefutably demonstrates the benefits of insurers settling claims within the ABI GTA protocol without recourse to litigation.
Their Lordships found that three earlier House of Lords decisions and one Court of Appeal decision had already established the principles concerning the basis on which the innocent victim of a road accident can recover the cost – and the level of those damages - of hiring a replacement car on credit terms. Today’s judgment not only reinforced those principles, it provided clarification on the value of contemporaneous evidence on comparable hire charges at the time of the accident. They saw no reason to depart from those well-established principles but did feel the need to clarify the earlier judgment of Lord Justice Jacob in this case. This judgment provides clarity for the County Courts who are faced with these arguments on a daily basis for much lower sums in respect of far less exotic cars.
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