Personal Injury

PRACTICE DETAIL

Product liability: past cases include a wide variety of claims for supply of defective products eg. cattle infected with BSE; defective vehicles; exploding bottles; faulty medical/surgical equipment; flammable building materials resulting in extensive fire damage claims;

Personal injury: covering all traditional areas of employers' and public liability, sports injuries and road accidents. Catastrophic injuries. Cases involving complex engineering and medical evidence. Experience of road accident claims incorporates fraudulent staged accidents, MIB and high value vehicle claims;

Insurance - policy coverage: extensive experience of litigation involving fraudulent insurance claims; material non-disclosure; misrepresentation; breach of warranty; avoidance of policy coverage/indemnity and waiver of entitlement to avoid;

Professional negligence: particularly insurance brokers.

HSE Prosecutions: fatal accidents/serious breaches of health and safety legislation.

LEVEL OF WORK

Overwhelming majority of caseload has a value ranging from £50,000 - £1,000,000. Regularly instructed in cases valued at £1-5 million.

REPORTED/NOTEWORTHY CASES

Dean(1) and Harrington(2) v CRG [2008]: Employers liability - injuries sustained during terrorist attack in Iraq - nature/extent of employer's duty to employee.

HSE v Edeco [2008]: Breaches of HSWA s2 and 3 - major civil engineering project - fatal crushing accident - exceptional aggravating features.

Hyldon v MOD [2007]: Employers liability - parachuting accident - mitigation of loss - loss of congenial employment - loss of chance - career model quantification - Blamire approach.

Gunshorn v Transpamole [2007]: RTA - brain injury - parties contesting capacity under Mental Capacity Act/Masterman-Lister.

Breach v Lloyds TSB General Insurance [2002]: Fire damage - fraudulent insurance claim - avoidance of policy.

McManus v Mannings Marine [2001] EWCA Civ 1668: VWF - limitation - date of knowledge - meaning of "injury in question" - exacerbation of injury by successive employers.

NSP Enterprises v Mainline Buses [2000] LTL: RTA - liability of bus driver - treacherous icy conditions - vehicle sliding from stationary position.

Baxenden Chemicals v NEM General Insurance/Hogg Robinson [1994] QBD: Product liability - professional negligence - insurance broker - material non disclosure - waiver of entitlement to avoid.

ASSOCIATIONS

Professional Negligence Bar Association; Personal Injury Bar Association.

SPECIAL INTERESTS

Motor sport injury claims and claims involving high value vehicles: collector of specialist and classic motor cars.