
YOU’RE FIRED: A LITIGATION LAWYER ON THE APPRENTICE 3: A COMIC AFFAIR
Sometimes (I suspect more often than we are willing to concede) it is not the best side that wins, it is the least worst side that doesn’t lose. That is the lesson to take away from this week’s apprentice. Our…

WHEN WITNESSES DID NOT ATTEND TRIAL 3: ADVERSE INFERENCES ARE DRAWN IN A CLINICAL NEGLIGENCE CASE
There are three cases today about the implications of witnesses not attending trial. This was an issue in Asante v Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust [2018] EWHC 2570 (QB). The absence of key witnesses from the defendant led…

STRESS, LITIGATORS AND LITIGATION: A RECAP
For World Mental Health Day I am re-posting posts on this blog that deal with stress, for litigators and those involved in the litigation process. Part of my work, dealing with relief from sanctions and limitation, means I come across…

WHEN WITNESSES DO NOT ATTEND TRIAL 2: ADVERSE INFERENCES CAN ALSO BE DRAWN FROM INADEQUATE DISCLOSURE
In Yuchai Dongte Special Purpose Automobile Company Ltd v Suisse Credit Capital (2009) Ltd [2018] EWHC 2580 (Comm) Christopher Hancock QC (sitting as a Deputy High Court Judge) stated that he could and would draw adverse inferences when a decision was…

WHEN WITNESSES DO NOT ATTEND TRIAL 1: WITNESS EVIDENCE NOT ALLOWED: A BROKEN FINGER IS NOT A GOOD EXCUSE NOT TO ATTEND COURT
This is the first of two posts today in relation to witnesses not attending to be cross-examined. In EC Medica Group UK Ltd & Ors v Dearnley-Davison & Ors [2018] EWHC 1952 (Ch) Kelyn Bacon QC (sitting as a Deputy High…

PROVING THINGS 129: IMPATIENT PATIENT DID NOT BREAK THE CHAIN OF CAUSATION: SUPREME COURT DECISION TODAY
The Supreme Court decision today in Darnley -v- Croydon Health Service NHS Trust [2018]UKSC 50 marks a development in the law of negligence, and also in relation to proving causation. “Far from constituting a break in the chain of causation,…