When a claimant is injured by doormen working on licensed premises is the publican vicariously liable if the assailants were employed by a separate security company ? The answer is “it depends”. The issue is primarily one of control. It…
There is always a batch of interesting cases on Part 36, for the past four years I have reviewed this in a webinar arranged by my chambers. This year is no different and the webinar takes place on the 3rd…
NB – SEE THE APPEAL JUDGMENT ON ONE ISSUE IN THIS CASE IN Prudence v Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust [2026] EWHC 96 (KB) Here we are looking at a judgment that is all about statements of case (or at…
There is no shortage of posts on this blogs where judges are critical of expert witnesses. Today we look at another such case where the judge found the expert’s approach “concerning” and went on to state that the expert was…
Injunctions normally have to be served in person. Here we are looking at a short point as to when it is permissible to serve an injunction by email. THE CASE Chanel Ltd v Skeens [2025] EWHC 619 (KB)…
We have looked many times at the problems caused by witness statements, including when a witness “tries” to remember matters they really cannot, or reconstructs what they feel did happen (or should have happened). This is a feature of all…
Today we are looking at a case where the defendant appealed against a decision that the claimant could recover the future cost of medical treatment to be carried out on a private basis. Statute states that there is no duty…
Today we are taking a rare trip into the criminal courts, the Court of Appeal Criminal Division. However we are looking at an issue that affects most, if not all, lawyers. A client can attempt to blame their lawyer for…
We are continuing to work through the results of one case in relation to the recoverability of success fees from a client’s damages. The claimants, seeking to challenge their former solicitors deduction of costs from their damages, argued that the…
We will, for the next few posts in this series, be working our way through one case. We have already looked at the judge’s observations in relation to the claimants’ witness statements. We now consider the issue of how much…
“We go back through your claim in fine detail and if we find that your previous solicitor wasn’t thorough enough and your claim was mishandled, we’ll squeeze out all the compensation that you’re entitled to, getting you more money, and…
I have written several times about the remarkable decision in Frederick Ayinde, R (on the application of) v The London Borough of Haringey [2025] EWHC 1040 (Admin) where false authorities were presented to the court. I have also written about …
Today we are looking at part of a judgment about costs. Ten claimants had been selected (out of 223) to give evidence challenging a solicitor’s deduction of success fees. In fact only four of the claimants attended court to give…
Last week we looked at a case where someone was injured in their workplace, but there was no breach. Today we are looking a case where an employee was injured crossing the road and it was held that the employer…
Today we are looking at a case that raises important issues. The judge decided that calling someone gay is not defamatory. However here we are not concerned with the substantive issues but two procedural issues raised in the case. Firstly…
Allegations of fraud have to be pleaded with care. Those pleading such assertions must have “reasonably credible material” to support them. Here we look at a case where allegations of deceit were made. The judge found that the allegations had…
There are countless posts on this blog where judges have criticised the contents of witness statements. Here we are looking at a case where the judge struck out parts of a witness statement signed by a solicitor. Parts of the…
The question of what is work equipment can be a fairly fundamental one for personal injury lawyers. There can still be something akin to strict liability under the provisions of the Employer’s Liability (Defective Equipment) Act 1969. Here we consider…
Unbelievably we are looking at another case where the court found that false authorities had been cited to it. The appeal was struck out as an abuse of process. “In my judgment, the Court needs to take decisive action…
Today we are looking at a case where a defendant waited 16 months before applying to set aside a default judgment. That application to set aside was successful at first instance but overturned by the Court of Appeal. The Court…
Today we are looking at a case where the Court of Appeal upheld a decision granting a defendant relief from sanctions. However this is a case of “two halves” in that the claimant had a more favourable decision in relation…
In the previous post in this series I mentioned that there was a backlog. I didn’t anticipate that I would be looking at a case that was decided in 2009. However the judgment has recently arrived on BAILLI and it…
For a while now I have planned a series that gives a focal point to the many cases and examples that arise, and are sent to me, in relation to personal injury matters. Many people offer help but the procedural…
A defendant is entitled to make a Part 36 offer whenever it wants. The making of an early offer can cause major problems for claimants and their lawyers. An understanding of the rules, the relevant cases and the steps that…
It is a well known principle that a third party funder can be liable to pay the costs of an action. However what happens when the funding agreement is dressed up as something else – a car sale for instance? …
We are continuing with this back to basics series with some more examples of how not to write legal correspondence. We are looking at an (extreme) example, some guidance from the SRA and then the principles considered in more recent cases….
There has not been a post in this series for some time. There was one case last week that made me decide to restart the series. It is not difficult to guess which case caused me concern. …
CPR PD510 provides for the electronic issue of a claim form. The claim form will be sealed electronically. What are the consequences for service of the claim form when service takes place by email? This issue was considered (albeit on…
Is an expert needed to construe a contractual agreement. Here we have a case where the Master was very much against the applicant who sought permission to rely on an expert. An expert was not needed to report on market…
Parties alleging dishonesty and fraud have to be very careful in the way they plead their case. These matters cannot be pleaded lightly, and there are professional obligations on the pleader to ensure that there is reasonably credible material that…
It is rare for this blog to look at Employment Tribunal decisions. However examining the drafting of witness statements is part of its everyday fare. Here we look at a decision where the Tribunal was certain that witness statements had…
Today we are looking at a case where the judge had considerable reservations about expert evidence called on behalf of a claimant. Not all the problems that occurred were the fault of the expert. However she was the third expert…
Here we are looking at another aspect of the case we looked at yesterday. Most of the attention in that case relates to the fake cases that the claimant relied upon. However there was criticism of the defendant too. The…
There are countless posts about witness statements on this blog. Most of them reflect judicial commentary that is far from favourable in relation to the way that the statements have been drafted. We see considerable criticism in this case where…
Why spend £13,000 to recover a remedy that will only be worth £1,500? That is the issue considered by Deputy District Judge Hodgson [Professor David Hodson OBE KC (Hons)]. An application was made late. The gain to the applicant was…
This blog celebrates its 12th anniversary next month. Civil Litigation Brief started as a column in the Solicitors Journal 35 years ago. Over that time many people have helpfully sent me and pointed me me to cases of interest. In…
There are many ways in which a court can approach a claim for loss of earnings. There are as many ways in which a claim for loss of earnings can go wrong. In recent weeks I have written about cases…
The case we are looking at today involves the consequences, for the solicitors, of failing to serve a claim form. In an earlier case extensions of time for service of a claim form were set aside. The client instructed new…
If a claimant serves a “amended” claim form that has not been resealed does that amount to good service? That issue was considered in the case we are considering today. The result is of considerable practical significance. However it pays…
How far should leading counsel, or counsel generally, be involved in the preparation of expert reports and witness statements? One obvious reply is “not at all”, given that the evidence should come from the expert or witness. These issues were…
Can the court ever set a costs budget retrospectively? In this case the judge held that it could, further there were good reasons for doing so in this case. “I do not accept that the Court is unable to…
The principle that insurance payments are sometimes deducted from a claim for personal injury damages is overlooked. Here we are looking at two recent cases where this principle was considered and applied. In one case, at least, the principle does not…
Most clients will want to know how much legal work is going to cost them. Most lawyers provide an estimate. The question in this case is how significant is that original estimate in a subsequent solicitor and own client assessment? …
Normally only a defendant can apply for security for costs. In this case the claimant applied for security for costs when a third party made an application. The question for the court was – in these circumstances can the applicant…
We are looking at a case where the entire case was struck out on various grounds. The claimant did not attend the hearing to dispute the issues. However I have isolated one ground of the judgment which relates to a…
Today has been a day for sending out useful links. Here we have a useful link for all those who are involved in inquests. A link to the Chief Coroner’s Guidance for Coroners on the Bench which was revised earlier…
There is a new edition of the King’s Bench Guide. There are some additions and changes. In particular the Guide notes the difference between an application for an anonymity order made at an approval hearing and one that is not….
The RICS has produced a Practice Alert aimed specifically at those acting as expert witnesses in housing disrepair and other high volume cases. It some ways the Alert is surprising in that it says nothing new, that is most of…
It is difficult to believe that cases about lawyers accidently breaching a judgment embargo still happen. However the reports keep coming. Prominent firms of solicitors, and barristers’ chambers have, over the years fallen foul of the rules. In particular a…
It is an easy matter for a claimant to insert a claim for a substantial loss of earnings into a schedule of damages. However a claimant then has to prove that loss. Further, even prior to trial, a defendant is…
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