Evidence: Problem issues and problem clients

Lisa Sullivan and Martyn Mcleish offer practical tips on how to navigate claims where allegations of exaggeration may arise ‘The defence operates as a rule of public policy by which an otherwise perfectly proper claim will not be allowed to proceed or a particular head of loss cannot be recovered because it offends public conscience …
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Costs: Summary execution

Paul Jones discusses the prospects of appeal following a summary assessment of costs ‘A judge should consider the component parts of the claim for costs but he was not obliged to go through a box-ticking exercise in which he had to make a ruling on each and every one of the elements of the costs …
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Case Report: Chandler v Cape plc [2011] EWHC 951 (QB)

Liability of parent company; duty of care; asbestosis ‘The court had “little doubt that the defendant exercised control over some of the activities of CBP from the time that it came into existence and through the period during which the Claimant was one of its employees”.’ To what extent can a parent company be responsible …
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PI Blog: Advocate’s advice

Bill Braithwaite QC gives an invaluable insight into current litigation trends ‘Personal injury lawyers could create their own system of dispute resolution. However, I’m quite sure that it could only be done with goodwill on both sides, and my feeling is that it is only just developing to the stage where true co-operation is practical.’ …
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Psychiatric Injury: Changing classification

Dr Walter Busuttil provides an update in relation to post traumatic stress disorder, Diagnostic Statistical Manual 5th Edition (DSM-V) and personal injury litigation ‘At the time of exposure to the traumatic incident, information processing becomes impeded and the victim is only able to process enough information to survive.’ In the USA, the Diagnostic Statistical Manual …
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Volenti: Dangerous activities

looks at recent decisions concerning the line to be drawn between personal responsibility and the liability of others Julian Matthews ‘The courts, often ready to find that there has been some degree of contributory fault, are now far more reluctant to fix individuals with the full consequences of their own actions then in earlier generations.’ …
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Assessment: Stay on track with costs

Shilpa Shah examines the difficult relationship between allocation and costs recovery ‘It was contended that the court should assess costs at the level allowed by reference to the small claims track provisions.’ While one of the aims of allocation was to enable the principle of proportionality to be dovetailed into the costs rules appropriate for …
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