Case Report: John Edward Billet v Ministry of Defence [2014] EWHC 3060 (QB)

Calculating future loss; Ogden ‘It appears the tension arises not from any misunderstanding of the Ogden tables themselves but from these tables providing an indication of a very broad range of problems.’ This judgment provides an interesting discussion of the tension between the judicial and statistical approaches to valuing quantum of future loss of earnings. …
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Stress At Work: Tackling bullying

Liam Ryan considers the implications of a recent case which may suggest stress claims are on the increase ‘While the claimant was unsuccessful, Daniels does indicate that if bullying was found to have taken place, resulting in a psychiatric injury and this was communicated to the employer, then a claim could be brought using bullying …
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Workplace Claims: Testing the boundaries

Gurion Taussig reviews recent significant employer’s liability cases ‘The duty upon the employer can not be easily displaced and even hazards with a low risk of eventuating will engage the PPE Regulations.’ This employer’s liability article focuses on some of the more significant decisions of the Court of Appeal in the last 18 months. During …
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Costs: Qualified one-way costs shifting – round 1

The first Court of Appeal decision looking at the QOCS reforms has been handed down, Paul Jones reports ‘The third party’s appeal was simply that QOCS did not apply to the Part 20 proceedings in Wagenaar v Weekend Travel Ltd and Serradj between the defendant and the third party, but the defendant’s appeal was more …
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Relief From Sanctions: Denton and the misunderstanding of Mitchell

In a recent case the Court of Appeal takes a new view of Mitchell, Jim Hester discusses ‘The court’s new guidance replaces what was generally seen as a two-stage process under Mitchell (Was this a trivial breach? Was there a good reason?) with a new three-stage process.’ Hot on the heels of the seminal Mitchell …
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Compensation: Civil actions against the police – what every lawyer must know

Kevin Donoghue explains the basis on which claims against the police are made and provides guidance for lawyers dealing with these cases using a practical example of one of his cases ‘False imprisonment is defined in Clerk & Lindsell on Torts as the “complete deprivation of liberty for any time, however short, without lawful cause”. …
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Investment: Wider use of periodical payments – it’s not impossible!

Andrew Sands and Nick Leech advocate greater use of periodical payments aided by case law, old and new ‘The ground work laid by the Thompstone cohort of cases should be built upon to widen the use of periodical payments.’ A brief reminder of the benefits of settlement inclusive of periodical payments is always a good …
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