Personal Injury

Lizanne Gumbel QC and Henry Witcomb, instructed by Jill Greenfield at Field Fisher Waterhouse, have successfully represented a barrister who suffered severe brain damage when he fell down the stairs in Daly’s Wine Bar on Fleet Street.

Mr Ian Paterson has recently been suspended by the GMC after it emerged that he might have performed "unnecessary and inappropriate" breast operations on nearly 1000 women and misdiagnosed nearly 450 women with breast cancer. A team of Members led by Lizanne Gumbel QC will represent women affected in their claims for compensation.

Judgment was handed down today (5 October) in the Kenyan Mau Mau case, allowing it to proceed out of time

In the long-running case brought by 4 Kenyans for injuries and torture suffered during the Mau Mau uprising (1952-1961), a hearing will establish whether the court should exercise its discretion to disapply the 3 year limitation period for personal injury claims and therefore allow the claims to proceed to a full trial. 

Justin Levinson is acting for 11 of the victims of John Worboys, known as the "black cab rapist", who are claiming damages from his motor insurers.  Worboys picked up the unsuspecting women late at night in his taxi.  He offered them drugged drinks and sexually assaulted them in his taxi after they passed out.  The case raises the novel question of whether or not the claimants' injuries arose out of their use of Worboys' taxi.  Judgement on this case is expected shortly.

Four members of 1 Crown Office Row (David Evans, Richard Mumford, Matthew Donmall and Isabel McArdle) formed part of a team acting for the Ministry of Defence in the Atomic Veterans Litigation in which the Supreme Court (which was divided on the issue) has handed down a seminal judgment, agreeing with the MoD’s argument that 9 of the 10 lead cases selected for the preliminary issue of limitation are time-barred and should not be allowed to proceed.

Cerys Edwards, then still a baby, received very severe neurological injuries in November 2006 when the car in which she was travelling was struck by a speeding Range Rover.  Margaret Bowron QC, acting for the Defendant Insurers, successfully negotiated an inevitably high-value settlement which was based upon a future care package requiring nursing support for Cerys who is permanently ventilated and tube fed.  The importance of finally resolving the claim was considerable to both sides.

On Monday 22 November 2010, the Court of Appeal handed down its unanimous judgment in the Atomic Veterans Litigation, allowing the Ministry of Defence’s appeal in respect of limitation and holding that (with one exception) the 10 lead cases in this group action are time-barred. The Ministry of Defence was represented by a team of counsel including David Evans, Richard Mumford and Matthew Donmall.

In Wendy Outhwaite’s case of Smith v YJB & MOJ, the Court of Appeal confirmed that in determining causation, it will not just look at factual causation, but will also make a value judgment as to whether it is fair that the Defendant should bear liability.