Personal injury

In the first part of a new series, Harry Lambert puts social media firms under the spotlight, asking: to what extent are they liable for harm?

Could social media firms be sued for harm caused to users? In the first of a three-part NLJ series on social media firms, Harry Lambert, Outer Temple Chambers, looks through ‘the lens of product liability, essentially posing the question: can social media platforms be conceptualised as defective products?’

Personal injury lawyers have accused the government of dismissing the impact of sexual abuse on survivors, after it decided not to implement key recommendations for change.

The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) has confirmed it will review the whiplash reforms this year, despite a glowing review from the Treasury.

Recent caselaw on vicarious liability, quantum and the process of seeking permission for a civil claim for injuries occurring while committing an imprisonable offence for which the potential claimant was later convicted, are all discussed in NLJ’s personal injury update column this week. Vijay Ganapathy, partner at Leigh Day specialising in industrial disease and complex injury cases, explores the issues in each case.

Vijay Ganapathy discusses some key decisions in personal injury which will provide important guidance for future cases

In a small road accident claim, do we really need to know the full details of the claimant’s childhood medical history? ‘In modest personal injury claims, routine, unnecessary and inappropriate disclosure of the entirety of claimants’ medical records is not acceptable,’ Charles Davey, a barrister with The Barrister Group, writes in this week’s NLJ.

Solicitors & courts are often indifferent to claimants’ rights to confidentiality, writes Charles Davey, setting out a blueprint for change to the disclosure rules

The personal injury discount rate was increased to 0.5% in January, based for the first time on a detailed report by an expert panel. In this week’s NLJ, Julian Chamberlayne wonders whether the decision-making is vulnerable to challenge by judicial review, and uncovers a multitude of weak spots. 

Julian Chamberlayne reviews the new personal injury discount rate & highlights some potential weak spots