Forbes at Trial - Claimant author of his own misfortune when he fell on the roof of a transit van

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 beam of the roof rack and fell. 

Forbes at Trial - When the claimant's evidence doesn't get him past first base

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.

Forbes at Trial - R v Wigan Council

Forbes successfully defended this claim on the basis that there was a safe system of work, and that the claimant had failed to follow it.

The Claimant was a site manager at a primary school in Wigan. She alleged that she slipped and fell whilst stepping down from a countertop that she had climbed onto using a chair. She had done this to enable her to open a window. The chair slipped away as she stepped back. This action was in contradiction of the school's policy which was to use a stepladder to access the countertop and so the windows.

Defendants unable to offset 'costs against costs' in QOCS cases

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.

LLOYD v GOOGLE: The Big Ones Get Away?

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, however, looks to have been blocked.

BUPA ordered to pay over £1m for fire safety failings following death of care home resident

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 Southwark Crown Court on 5 January 2021.

The construction company and its groundworks contractor sentenced

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.

Initially, the worker dug by hand, however, due to the ground conditions and numerous hedgerow roots he started to use a 110V mechanical electric breaker.

'Failure to Remove' Claims in the High Court: The Appeals in HXA v Surrey CC and YXA v Wolverhampton CC

The much-anticipated judgments in the appeals of HXA v Surrey CC [2021] EWHC 250 (QB) and YXA v Wolverhampton CC [2021] EWHC 1444 (QB), were finally handed down by Stacey J on 8th November 2021.

Council prosecuted after a member of the public killed by falling tree

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 oak tree.

Care home company fined after a resident choked to death

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 dementia

Changes to the Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) at Work Regulations from 6 April 2022

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 employees working under a contract of employment.