February 2014 #122 – Law Journals

Clinical Negligence: Recognised breach of duty?

Julian Matthews considers the extent to which the court may draw inferences of negligence from the occurrence of commonly arising risks of surgery that a patient has consented to run The challenge facing all medical practitioners is that the human body is infinitely variable. Despite the astonishing advances in medical technology, this is the primary …

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Equine Accidents: Tally ho

Julie Mackenzie looks at evidential issues in the niche area of equine related injury claims ‘It may be that the court has to consider carefully the use of experts in horse cases and that some more scientific analysis of a horse’s behaviour may be necessary.’Horse riding and ownership is a growth area; 3.5 million people …

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Case Report: Simson v London Borough of Islington [2013] EWHC 2527 (QB)

Highways Act 1980; duty to maintain; section 58 defence ‘The trial judge was saying no more than that this area of road had significant and serious dangers that were visible, and that these should have triggered investigations, which would have led to the relevant defect being discovered and repaired.’ On 19 April 2009 the claimant …

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CPR: No procedural hiding place – the Mitchell effect

Deirdre Goodwin discusses the changing litigation landscape ‘The landmark judgment in Mitchell, and those which have followed, definitively welcome civil practitioners to the brave new world of qualified justice where fairness and ‘conscience’ become secondary to awareness of the limitations of court resources and financial expediency.’ The Court of Appeal decision in Mitchell MP v …

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Road Traffic Accidents: Just and equitable = flexibility

Toby Kempster advises how to approach an apportionment of liability ‘Driving a motor car imposes a high level of responsibility (and therefore potential culpability if mishandled) upon the driver as a result of the potential danger the car presents.’ Predicting how liability will be apportioned (if at all) in a road traffic accident often appears …

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Costs: Costs issues and the Legal Ombudsman

Paul Jones examines the shift in costs recovery and potential problems ‘The Ombudsman had been entitled to reach the conclusion that a reduced sum should be payable in all the circumstances of the case.’ The Jackson reforms have seen a partial shift in responsibility for solicitor’s fees from culpable defendants to claimants. Success fees are …

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