April 2019 #174 – Law Journals

Psychiatric injury: Primary rules

Is a claimant for psychiatric injuries associated with their child’s birth a primary or secondary victim? Suzanne Lambert discusses ‘Where the claimant is a primary victim (who is involved in an accident, for example), as opposed to a secondary victim (who may be a mere witness to an accident), there should be no distinction made …

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Advocate’s advice: Clinical negligence update

Bill Braithwaite QC provides his insight on recent significant case law ‘In Montgomery, the Supreme Court highlighted the importance of patient autonomy and the patient’s entitlement to make decisions whether to incur risks of injury inherent in treatment.’ Updating in clinical negligence is not always easy, because the principles usually stay the same, and only …

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Service: Suing unnamed defendants and approaches to alternative service

Benjamin Williams QC and Ben Smiley consider judicial guidance about how and when service can be effected ‘This was the first occasion on which the basis and extent of the jurisdiction to bring a claim against an unnamed defendant had been considered by the Supreme Court or the House of Lords.’ The Supreme Court has …

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Periodontal disease: The smoking defence

Sarah Mynard examines the complex issues of causation that arise in periodontal claims ‘Mrs Haughton brought a claim against her GDP, Dr Patel, for his failure to diagnose, treat and/or refer her for specialist advice for her CAP, which had caused the abscess.’ Bringing a claim for periodontal disease can be straightforward in terms of …

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Damages claims: The benevolence exception – where does the law stand?

Laura Swaine reviews whether payments made by third parties can be offset in fatal accident claims ‘As the law stands any payment made to the claimant from a JustGiving or public fund set up in aid of the claimant falls within the benevolence exception and is not deducted from any personal injury settlement.’ In recent …

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Catastrophic brain injury claims: Establishing liability

Pankaj Madan gives invaluable advice about the practical issues that often arise in establishing liability and how to resolve them ‘It is very tempting to simply rely upon the recollections of apparently independent witnesses in reaching a view upon liability but this can be unreliable and cause severe injustice.’ Catastrophic brain injuries bring their own …

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Costs: Medical agency fees in fixed costs cases

Paul Jones highlights that there are still areas of dispute with fixed costs ‘The claimant’s case was that the reference to “the cost of obtaining” in CPR 45.29I(2) did not draw any distinction between the direct costs (the fee charged by the GP or hospital) and the indirect costs of an agent doing the work …

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Case report: Mark v Universal Coatings and Services Ltd [2018] EWHC 3206 (QB)

Implied sanctions; relief from sanctions; medical reports; schedules of loss ‘At the heart of the dispute between the claimant and defendants was a difference in understanding about when an implied sanction might arise.’ In Mark v Universal Coatings & Services Ltd [2018], Mr Mark brought a claim alleging that the defendants exposed him to silica …

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