Personal Injury

Monthly Case & Practice Update

The Personal Injury and Medical Law Teams produce a free monthly Case Law and Practice Update with summary and comment on recent cases and developments in these rapidly expanding areas of law. written by with contribution from members of the Teams.

For details of the April 2010 Update please click here

For details of the May 2010 Update please click here

Practice and Procedure papers include :

  • Summary and Overview of Preliminary Report of Sir Rupert Jackson's Civil Litigation Costs Review click here
  • Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007 click here
  • Ogden Tables, 6th Edition click here
  • Civil Procedure Rules (Amendment No. 3) 2006 [44th Update including the new Part 36] click here
  • DCA Report on the Responses to the Consultation on the new Court of Protection Rules click here

Casenotes include :

  • INDEXATION - appropriate measure for future periodical care payments:
    • Tameside & Glossop Acute Services NHS Trust v Thompstone & Others [2008] EWCA Civ 6, Court of Appeal, Swift J - Periodical Payments indexation in which the Trust's' appeal to the House of Lords has been abandoned click here
    • Thompstone v Tameside & Glossop Acute Services NHS Trust [2006] EWHC 2904 (QB), Swift J - Periodical Payments indexation - decision upheld on appeal click here
  • Crofton v NHSLA [2007] EWCA Civ 71- whether assessment of personal injury damages should take account of ‘direct payments’ by Local Authorities click here

If you would like to be included on the mailing list for this update, please contact our senior clerk Kevin Kelly or Deirdre Goodwin


Seminars:

  • For details of future seminars, please contact Kevin Kelly

 

13 KBW are established chambers, with a membership large enough to attract and retain high calibre practitioners, but sufficiently small to maintain personal contact with professional clients. Our breadth of experience in civil and criminal litigation, combined with our specialist expertise and advocacy skills, allows us to provide a range of individuals with the appropriate level of expertise.

Our team possesses acknowledged skills and experience in all areas of personal injury law acting both for claimants and defendants. We work closely together to further our aim to provide excellent service to all our clients. This allows our professional clients to select the right person for the case and enables us to provide a high-quality efficient and cost effective service. This includes ensuring that our more junior members always have access to the expertise and assistance of their senior colleagues.  Alexander Dawson is mentioned in 2006 Chambers and Partners as a leader at the Bar in Personal Injury.

Our premises include a fully integrated IT and communications system including Meridian specialist software and on-line Listing service. We are proud of our level of service to clients, and are currently finalizing our submission for QualityMark accreditation.

We have been instructed in a number of leading cases that include Hotson v East Berkshire AHA (1987) AC 750 H.L, (whether damages are recoverable for loss of a chance of good recovery), Bolitho v City & Hackney Health Authority (1997) W.L.R H.L. p1151 (a definitive ruling on the interpretation of a 'responsible body' within the Bolam test, and the application of this test to acts of omission and causation), Jayes v IMI (Kynoch) (1985) ICR 155 (whether a finding of 100% contributory negligence can be made if an employer is in breach of statutory duty), McGovern v BSC (1986) ICR 608 (scope of liability under construction regulations), and Harrop (1988) (the first personal injury claim to exceed £1m); CD King v Surrey County Council (1998) (£1.1m damages awarded for catastrophic head injuries: increased on appeal by consent by £500,000); Heil v Rankin & anor (2000) QB 272 (leading Court of Appeal decision regarding increased general damages for pain and suffering).

We have extensive experience of handling cases for individual claimants, major Trade Unions, insurers and some of the largest employers in the country. Whilst all members of chambers have general experience in personal injury litigation for both claimants and defendants, individuals have particular expertise and experience in the following specific areas:

fatal accidents, head injuries, brain damage and p.v.s., spinal injuries, repetitive strain injuries, psychiatric illness arising from trauma and 'stress at work', industrial accidents and diseases, manual handling operations, claims arising from construction and engineering operations.

Statistically some 85% of personal injury claims settle. We are acutely aware, therefore, of the need to hone specialist skills in all aspects of Alternative Dispute Resolution, ranging from formal Mediation to informal case conferences.  We have wide experience in providing specialist advice to claimants and defendants on liability and quantum issues, in cases ranging from 'whiplash' injuries to catastrophic head injury and quadriplegia, and complex Fatal Accident claims. Our members have gained a well-earned reputation as tough negotiators.

Some notable settlements and awards include £1.6m for a plaintiff with severe multiple injuries (Graeme Williams QC and Andrew Glennie); £1.1m damages awarded for catastrophic head injuries (Graeme Williams QC); £1.1m for a serious head injury following a road traffic accident (Alexander Dawson); £1.5m, reduced to £1m for contributory negligence, for a serious head injury in a road traffic accident in Gibraltar (Alexander Dawson); £3.8m for brain damage arising from a skid on an ungritted icy road, reduced by 25% for contributory negligence for driving with a bald tyre at excessive speed (Deirdre Goodwin), £975,000 Fatal Accidents claim (Deirdre Goodwin), £3m settlement of serious head injury claim arising from a RTA; compromised at about 60:40 to reflect contributory negligence; significant & complex past and future loss of earnings/shareholding claim (Deirdre Goodwin); £4.75 million for catastrophic brain damage following a road accident of which £1.5m used for structured settlement self-funded by the MIB (Deirdre Goodwin).

We appreciate, however, that all claims, however small, are important to the individual client and our junior members have considerable experience in such claims, including Arbitration. Many such claims are unusual and include: the death of a pedigree Pekinese stud dog; a restaurant in Cornwall where a number of wedding guests suffered from food poisoning; a car owner who fell into an inspection pit whilst collecting his car from the garage; a security guard whose hand was trapped in an automatic cash machine whilst delivering cash; a lady traumatised by the death of her horses which had escaped onto an unfenced railway line, and a police cadet who injured her spine when pony trekking in Cornwall

 

Conditional Fee Agreements

All members of the Personal Injury team are willing to take instructions under Conditional Fee Arrangements. As a matter of course we use the APIL/PIBA model agreement, although we recognise that minor variations may be appropriate in particular cases.

All members of the team subscribe to Chamber's internal agreement covering Conditional Fee work. Full details are available on request but the major features are as follows; each new case is vetted by another member of the team of appropriate seniority in addition to the barrister instructed; if the barrister briefed is not available, the vetting barrister agrees to take the brief on the same terms if he/she is available; if both barristers are unavailable, other members of the team are committed to taking the brief on the same terms, subject to availability. In this way, instructing solicitors and lay clients have the security of knowing that each conditional fee case has been considered at the outset by two members and that, so far as possible, they will not be left to seek alternative representation should their first choice of counsel be unavailable.

THE PERSONAL INJURY TEAM

Practice Leader: Deirdre Goodwin 1974

Our senior members are:

Our more junior members deal with smaller cases and have experience in all aspects of personal injury work, including employers' liability, industrial diseases, road traffic accidents, occupiers' liability and tripping & slipping cases. They regularly advise on liability, quantum, evidence and tactics, and appear all over the country in interlocutory and final applications and at liability and quantum hearings.

The Personal Injury team and our Clerks understand the importance of selecting the right individual, both for you and your client. If you have any queries, the initial points of contact are Kevin Kelly and Stuart Ritchie.