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Paul Jones examines a recent case that illustrates how courts may approach new funding arrangements In the post-Jackson epoch, the litigation funding options will take some time to settle down. Gone will be the ubiquitous Conditional Fee Agreement (CFA) where all the costs (including success fee and ATE premium) were payable by the losing party …
Continue reading "Costs: Credit where credit is due"
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Patrick Vincent and Tom Banks analyse the effect of costs budgets and the new case management powers ‘The principle that defendants ought to be able to gather surveillance without telling the claimant is impossible to reconcile with advertising the existence of surveillance in a budget forecast.’ Surveillance is a familiar battleground for PI lawyers. But …
Continue reading "Surveillance: Are you being watched?"
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Stephanie Prior looks at recent media events and the difficulties faced by victims pursuing claims ‘Civil claims against individuals are often very complex. The individual abuser will be the defendant and it is essential to ascertain from the outset whether or not they are able to pay compensation.’ One only needs to glimpse at the …
Continue reading "Civil Litigation: Compensation for child abuse"
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Employers’ liability; breach and causation; Personal Protective Equipment Regulations ‘This case illustrates the need to identify the statutory criteria as interpreted by the relevant authorities and focus evidence and arguments accordingly.’ This case provides a telling illustration of the stringency of the Personal Protective Equipment Regulations 1992 (the PPE Regulations) and the evidential difficulties a …
Continue reading "Case Report: The Chief Constable of Hampshire Police v Taylor [2013] EWCA Civ 496"
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Mark Fowles considers the status of The Code of Practice for Highway Maintenance following the recent Court of Appeal decision of TR v Devon County Council ‘Hughes LJ emphasised that the importance of the Code of Practice for Highway Maintenance should not be overrated. It had no statutory basis and was no more than evidence …
Continue reading "Highway Claims: Establishing a section 58 defence"
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In conclusion to his two-part article, Julian Matthews reports upon a further recent decision in this complex area of medicine and law, and reflects upon whether similar cases can still be pursued given the recent changes to the rules on costs My last article for the Personal Injury Law Journal concerned awards of damages for …
Continue reading "Clinical Negligence: Delayed diagnosis in cancer cases and proof of causation"
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Third-party cost orders; disclosure ‘There will be palpable relief among solicitors that the payment of disbursements and provision of credit has roundly been dismissed as a test for establishing that a funder is “a real party” to proceedings.’ On 10 April 2013 the Court of Appeal handed down judgment in the conjoined appeals in Flatman …
Continue reading "Case Report: Gavin Flatman v Gill Germany; Richard Weddall v Barchester Health Care Ltd [2013] EWCA Civ 278"
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Paul Jones reviews the transitional arrangements relating to detailed assessment of costs ‘Part 36 offers will now be a relevant factor in relation to the costs of detailed assessment as will any other “admissible offer to settle”, which would, presumably, exclude without prejudice offers but allow open offers and Calderbank offers.’ The 1 April reforms …
Continue reading "Costs: Confusion reigns"
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Bill Braithwaite QC considers what issues arise when there is evidence to suggest a claimant may not have been wearing a seat belt ‘The burden of proof is firmly on the defendant, but this definitely does not mean that the claimant should wait and see how the defence put the argument.’ Seat belt issues never …
Continue reading "Advocate’s Advice: Road traffic accidents"
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Patrick Limb QC examines the decision in the appeal case of IEG v Zurich ‘The relaxation of the causal requirement in mesothelioma claims emerged from the conjoined appeals in Fairchild precisely because the insurers were hoping that such claims would founder on the rock of uncertainty created by the inability to satisfy the “but for” …
Continue reading "Fairchild Rules: Fair enough?"
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