Legal Article
23/05/22
The Government has proposed specific rule changes to the QOCS regime following the Supreme Court judgment of Ho v Adelkun [2021] UKSC 43 and has opened a consultation to consider the proposals. The Qualified One Way Costs Shifting regime (QOCS) was introduced to personal injury cases in 2013…
Legal Article
19/05/22
There are some aspects of law which even confuse Judges, and one of those which crops up time and again is legal professional privilege. Whilst it may seem to be something best left to lawyers to entertain themselves with in a dreary Court on a rainy Monday afternoon, understanding the principles can…
Legal Article
16/05/22
Managing the return of employees back to the workplace following a period of remote working, owing to the Covid-19 pandemic, is becoming an increasingly challenging exercise for employers. Many people still remain nervous about commuting and attending work and increasing their risk of contracting…
Legal Article
28/03/22
As frequently highlighted by the media over the course of the last 2 years, one of the most highly affected employment groups during the pandemic were those providing care for others. This sector took care of some of the most vulnerable members of society during the various lockdowns implemented in the…
Legal Article
15/03/22
"First do no Harm" is part of the Hippocratic oath that many medical schools still insist their graduates take as part of the qualifying process to become a doctor. The recent Court of Appeal decision in Tindall v Chief Constable of Thames Valley Police (2022) EWCA Civ 25 suggests that a…
Legal Article
09/03/22
Due to new legislation, Mental Capacity (Amendment) Act 2018, Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards were to be replaced by Liberty Protection Safeguards (LPS) in early 2022. The already delayed LPS implementation date of April 2022 has now been delayed further with no new date likely for implementation of…
Legal Article
09/03/22
Deputy High Court Judge Margaret Obi delivered a significant judgment in the case of AB v Worcestershire County Council & Anor [2022] EWHC 115 (QB) . Breaches of Article 3 and Article 6 of the ECHR were being alleged by the Claimant. The claim for AB was brought on his behalf by the Official…
Legal Article
04/03/22
A teacher and a teaching assistant from Gateshead Cheder school led 13 boys up the icy and snowy Helvellyn mountain in the Lake District in March 2020. The school admitted 'mistakes were made' over the field trip, which resulted in one pupil falling on the 3,000-foot high mountain and…
Legal Article
04/03/22
A metals fabrication company has been sentenced for health breaches after several workers were diagnosed with hand arm vibration syndrome (HAVS) or carpal tunnel syndrome. The company was visited by the Health & Safety Executive in March 2018 following a concern received from an employee.…
Legal Article
04/03/22
We successfully defended a claim brought against Wigan Council by a claimant who tripped on a damaged speed bump as she walked over it in January 2019. She claimed that the damage was such that the Council had breached their duty to maintain the highway in accordance with S41 of the Highways Act 1980,…
Legal Article
04/03/22
The Court of Appeal have upheld the High Court's finding that an employer was not liable for a contractor's injury that was caused by a practical joke played by one of its employees. We reported the High Court's decision in the case of Chell v Tarmac here at the time. In summary the…
Legal Article
04/03/22
From 29th January 2022 the rules for all types of road users have been updated in the Highway Code to improve the safety of people walking, cycling and riding horses. The aim of the new rules is to significantly reduce road casualties and the Highway Code states that "cutting the number of deaths…
Legal Article
16/02/22
As we approach the two year anniversary of the first lockdown being implemented due to Covid 19, attention continues to focus on whether people with long term Covid symptoms (long Covid) should be able to apply for Government financial support and indeed possibly bring a civil action against their…
Legal Article
04/02/22
In an important decision for local authorities and other organisations handling sensitive data, the High Court has clarified and applied the principles governing vicarious liability set out by the Supreme Court in the earlier judgment in Various Claimants v Morrisons Supermarkets [2020] AC 989.…
Legal Article
27/01/22
It is nigh on impossible to visit the website of any reasonable-sized construction company nowadays without seeing words like "sustainability", "ESG", and "social footprint". Historically used as mere buzz words to drive online traffic, environmental issues are increasingly…
Legal Article
26/01/22
The Personal Protective Equipment at Work (Amendment) Regulations 2022 (legislation.gov.uk) come into force on the 6 April 2022. The duty to provide PPE remains the same, but the 2022 regulations widen the scope of which workers an employer has to provide PPE for, to now include not just…
Legal Article
26/01/22
A care home business, run by private health care provider BUPA, has been fined £1.04m after a resident died in a fire while smoking at one of its care homes. BUPA Care Services (ANS) Ltd was fined £937,500 for fire safety failings and ordered to pay £104,000 prosecution costs at…
Legal Article
26/01/22
HC-One Limited has been fined following an incident when a resident choked to death on a jam doughnut. A resident of Orchard Care Home, Lychgate Road, Tullibody, was given a piece of jam doughnut to eat on 7 August 2019. The resident had previously suffered from a stroke and had been diagnosed with…
Legal Article
19/01/22
Staffordshire County Council has been prosecuted for failing to inspect and maintain trees on a public footpath, following the death of a member of the public. The Court heard how, on 3 October 2019, a man walking his dog on the Isabel Trail in Stafford was struck and killed by part of a falling…
Legal Article
19/01/22
To some observers, civil claims for compensation for often relatively trivial breaches of a person's data, represent the opportunity for some legal firms to replace diminishing whiplash or holiday sickness claims with a new source of work. One potential avenue for claimant firms looking to diversify…
Legal Article
19/01/22
A construction company and its groundworks contractor have been fined after unsafe excavation work left a worker with serious burns to his hand and arm. A groundworker was preparing the ground to install a post to carry an Automatic Number Plate Recognition Camera (ANPRC) on 2 August 2018.…
Legal Article
19/01/22
In a blow to Defendants, the UK Supreme Court in the case of Ho v Adelekun (2021) UKSC 45 unanimously agreed with the appellant Claimant that a Defendant cannot automatically off set 'costs against costs' under the Qualified One-Way Costs Shifting (QOCS) regime. QOCS applies to most…
Legal Article
19/01/22
In the current situation when schools are being advised to open windows to ensure adequate ventilation to avoid Covid-19 transmission, this case is a useful reminder of issues that can arise. Forbes successfully defended this claim on the basis that there was a safe system of work, and that the…
Legal Article
19/01/22
Mr Rigby brought a claim against Wigan Council alleging that he had tripped and fallen as a result of a significant pothole in a road. The matter was listed for a two-day trial but all came crashing down for the claimant before lunch on the first day. His first problem was that two of his…
Legal Article
19/01/22
ML fell from the roof of a transit van in the course of his employment. He was strapping vinyl flooring onto the roof rack, as this was too large to fit inside the van. He accessed the roof via the fixed ladder on the back of the van contrary to instructions. As he stepped back he tripped over the…
