Health And Safety Regulations: New hope for injured employees

Sam Collard and Ewelina Ochab outline an important case when considering non-delegable duty of care ‘It is still unknown whether Woodland v Essex CC will be used in employers’ liability, however the case gives hope for injured employees seeking compensation for their injuries.’On 1 October 2013, s69 of the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act 2013 …
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Fundamental Dishonesty: QOCS CPR 44.16 – claimant caught ‘bang to rights’

Patrick West looks at the growing impact of one of the most important costs consequences of the Jackson reforms and what it means for parties seeking to recover their costs ‘A Part 36 offer, if effective, will wipe out a claimant’s damages by permitting enforcement of a costs order in favour of the defendant capped …
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Case Report: Christine Reaney v University of North Staffordshire NHS Trust (1) and Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust (2) [2014] EWHC 3016 (QB)

Negligent treatment of pre-existing paraplegia; establishing the appropriate counterfactual; whether credit should be given for care required in any event ‘One might say that the paradigmatic negligent act is to make that person worse. A court may well have sympathy with a vulnerable individual whose quality of life is reduced even further by those in …
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Cost Budgeting: The essential guide

Nick Kitchen sets out what every practitioner needs to know ‘Where costs budgets have been filed and exchanged, the court will normally make a costs management order unless it is satisfied that the litigation can be conducted justly and at proportionate cost in accordance with the overriding objective without such an order being made.’ The …
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Animals Act 1971: Prosecuting and defending equine claims

John Snell provides invaluable advice on this difficult area of law ‘Where the Animals Act 1971 applies, there will often be little or nothing to be gained for a claimant by also pleading a claim at common law.’ A horse, as Lord Justice Lewison observed in Turnbull v Warrener [2012] at para 56, is a …
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Equine Claims: An expert’s perspective

Charlie Lane gives guidance to practitioners on what to expect when dealing with an equestrian expert ‘Dealing with the issue of the unpredictability of horses is of course a problem… it is for the lawyers to ensure that, while they obtain the most helpful opinion, the expert is not encouraged or allowed to be more …
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Costs: Trivial pursuits

Paul Jones highlights an example of an application for relief from sanctions in detailed assessment proceedings ‘The court considered the breach by reference to all the surrounding circumstances of the case. In particular, the claimant had commenced detailed assessment within the required three months.’ Relief from sanctions has been the dominant theme in the post …
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