Byrom Street

Winston Hunter QC in Court of Appeal in significant road traffic insurance appeal

Steve — Thu, 17 May 2012 08:30:50 +0000

The Court of Appeal hearing of the joined appeals of Evans v Equity Claims Ltd and Churchill Insurance Company Limited v Wilkinson has resumed today. The issue before the Court is the interpretation and application of s.151(8) of the Road Traffic Insurance Act 1988 in the light of the ECJ ruling in the same case. The ECJ ruled that s.151(8) is incompatible with the Motor Insurance Directives if it is interpreted as allowing an insurer to avoid payment of any damages in all cases of an insured victim who has ’caused or permitted’ uninsured driving, seeking recovery of his/her own losses. The Secretary of State has been given permission to participate in the appeal. The Court of Appeal will be asked to decide whether and in what manner s.151(8) can be read so as to be in conformity with the Motor Insurance Directives or if it cannot be read in conformity should a declaration to this effect be made.

Winston Hunter QC appeared for Equity Claims Ltd in the Court of Appeal on the initial appeal ([2010] EWCA 556) and in the ECJ. He is is appearing in the Court of Appeal on the resumed hearing.

The appeal is to be heard by Aikens LJ, Maurice Kay LJ and Etherton LJ, and is listed for 1 1/2 days.

Darryl Allen in clinical negligence success

Steve — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 15:05:47 +0000

On 22nd December 2005, Jodie Morris was admitted to hospital with abdominal pains, vomiting and nausea. She was then almost 24 weeks pregnant with her second child, Ashley. She was discharged on 24th December, without a formal diagnosis having been made. The impression on discharge was of a possible urinary tract infection. Jodie was in fact suffering from appendicitis. She was re-admitted to hospital on 28th December. By that time her appendix had ruptured and she was suffering from peritonitis. She underwent an emergency appendicectomy on 28th December. She went into spontaneous labour on 29th December and gave birth to Ashley. Ashley was admitted to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit and survived until 5th January 2006. Sadly Ashley’s condition deteriorated to such extent that the decision was taken to withdraw life support. Ashley died in the arms of her parents.
Jodie and Stevyn Gent, Ashley’s father, brought proceedings for damages for bereavement, on behalf of Ashley’s estate and for the psychiatric injuries which they suffered as a result of their experience and the circumstances of Ashley’s suffering and death: Jodie claimed as a “primary victim” and Stevyn as a “secondary victim”. Liability was contested throughout. Quantum was agreed, subject to liability, shortly before trial.
After a five day trial in front of HHJ Cotter QC, Jodie and Stevyn established that Jodie should have been kept in hospital until the provisional diagnosis of urinary tract infection had been confirmed or excluded by culture analysis; had she remained in hospital, urinary tract infection would have been excluded, her worsening symptoms indentified and appendicitis would/should have been diagnosed; Jodie would/should have undergone appendicectomy prior to rupture; with the benefit of timely surgery, Ashley would have survived and Jodie and Stevyn would not have suffered psychiatric injury.
Jodie and Stevyn recovered the agreed damages.
Darryl Allen represented Jodie Morris and Stevyn Gent throughout their claims. Darryl was instructed by Kristofer Inskip of Pannone LLP.

Chris Melton QC obtains interim payment for trial of independent living

Steve — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 09:32:47 +0000

The Claimant is 26 years old. On 2nd June 2006 he sustained serious brain injuries when struck by a motor car driven by the Defendant. The Defendant denied liability but the Claimant won at trial with a finding of 25% contributory negligence, matching his Part 36 offer. He has hitherto been cared for at the “Little Oyster” care home, a placement funded by the local Primary Care Trust, but he has shown significant improvements in his cognitive condition since receiving therapies funded by an earlier interim payment. A recent case conference chaired by the PCT and attended by the Claimant’s professional deputy and treating therapists decided that it was in his best interests to live in the community. The Judge, while saying that the case should not be regarded as giving the green light to all applications for trials of independent living, accepted that it was appropriate in the circumstances of this particular case. Moreover, this Court was not concerned with what was in the Claimant’s best interests, which was a matter for the jurisdiction of the Court of Protection. Also, following Peters, it was open to the Claimant to opt for a privately funded regime and, following Sowden, the fact that there may be a 25% reduction on account of contributory negligence was to be ignored. The judge awarded to the Claimant a further £150,000, in order to fund a home based regime, rejecting the Defendant’s argument that the effect of granting the application would be to render the playing field uneven and distinguishing Brown and Mabiriizi on the basis that the Claimant’s advisers had – sensibly – not sought to buy an expensive property when the future could not be known with certainty.

Legal Education Event

Steve — Thu, 22 Mar 2012 15:36:25 +0000

On Saturday 17th March 2012 Members of Byrom Street Chambers co-presented a mock criminal trial to an audience of state school/college sixth form students in the Civil Justice Centre, Manchester. The event was organised by Manchester University under its Pathways to Law programme which aims to encourage young people who have an interest in a legal career. Solicitors from Hempsons played the roles of the witnesses. Richard Pearce prosecuted and Sally Hatfield and Simon McCann of Deans Court Chambers defended. David Heaton QC was the judge. The students played the role of two juries in a trial of two defendants charged with inflicting grievous bodily harm. They ruled on a point of law and returned the verdicts. During breaks in the day the students were able to talk with the practising lawyers about the routes which they have taken in their legal careers.

James Rowley QC – Barbican Lecture

Steve — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 16:41:45 +0000

James Rowley QC today presented his Serious Personal Injury Litigation talk to an audience at the London Barbican. Updated versions of the talk and corresponding tables are available in the Seminars and Papers Archive section of the web site.

J Rowley QC – Serious P.I.Litigation

Steve — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 14:53:50 +0000

J Rowley QC – Serious P.I.Litigation

Steve — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 14:50:18 +0000

J Rowley QC – Serious P.I Litigation

Steve — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 14:48:26 +0000

J Rowley QC – Serious P.I Litigation

Steve — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 14:44:09 +0000

Christopher Melton QC and Darryl Allen secure anonymity order

Steve — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 14:15:44 +0000

Christopher Melton QC and Darryl Allen (instructed by Brendan Hope of Pannone LLP) today secured an anonymity order which prevented publication not only of the Claimant’s identity (and information calculated to lead to her identification) but also the publication of the facts and circumstances which gave rise to her successful clinical negligence claim.
In JIH v. News Group Newspapers Ltd [2010] EWHC 2818 (QB), Mr Justice Tugendhat accepted the general proposition that an anonymity order and a restriction on the publication of the subject matter of the proceedings were to be considered as alternatives to achieve the goal of preserving the claimant’s Article 8 right to respect for private and family life. He said that any attempt to derogate from that general proposition would require “particularly close scrutiny”. Today at the High Court in London, Mrs Justice Lang granted an anonymity order together with a restriction on the publication of the facts and circumstances which gave rise to the Claimant’s claim.”