header-logo header-logo

Home Login E-newsletter About us
06 December 2013 / Ross Risby
Issue: 7587 / Categories: Features , Expert Witness
printer mail-detail

Cracking it

© Copyright LexisNexis 2026. All Rights Reserved.
web_risby

Ross Risby highlights the value of selecting the best experts in professional negligence litigation
The expert evidence given at trial often plays a crucial role in determining the ultimate outcome of professional negligence litigation. Three recent cases act as reminders of the importance which needs to be placed on selection of the experts, if a party is to be given the best chance of success at trial.

 

Survey failings

In Igloo Regeneration (General Partner) Ltd v Powell William Partnership [2013] EWHC 1718 (TCC), [2013] All ER (D) 257 (Jun) the claimant had bought historic mill buildings in Leeds in 2003. Prior to the purchase, it engaged the defendant surveyors and engineers (PWP) to survey those buildings. PWP reported that cracking was visible in three brick piers and suggested that remedial ties should be installed, the situation monitored and £20,000 be retained for future remedial work.

Serious increases in crack size were subsequently recorded which were later accepted as being consistent with compression failure. Remedial works cost substantially more than the £20,000 PWP had

If you are not a subscriber, subscribe now to read this content
If you are already a subscriber sign in
...or Register for two weeks' free access to subscriber content

MOVERS & SHAKERS

Read All
Sponsored by
Osbornes Law—Alex McMahon, Andrew Middlehurst & Harriet McMorrin

Osbornes Law—Alex McMahon, Andrew Middlehurst & Harriet McMorrin

Homegrown hat-trick: Osbornes Law promotes three former trainees to partner

mfg Solicitors—Sarah Bradford

mfg Solicitors—Sarah Bradford

Partner arrival boosts law firm’s growing real estate team

Freeths—David Smith

Freeths—David Smith

Freeths secures major tax hire with appointment of David Smith

NEWS
Read All
Good faith test is objective, rules Supreme Court
The Supreme Court has clarified the scope of a director’s duty, in a case where a chairman’s good intentions went awry due to the pandemic
Fisher review urges tough action on digital fraud
Digital fraud is ‘baffling policymakers, investigators, prosecutors and enforcers’, leaving ‘a massive justice gap’, the author of a government-commissioned independent review has warned
Regulatory overseer must do better
Richard Lloyd’s independent review of the Legal Services Board (LSB) has delivered a devastating verdict, accusing the super-regulator of having ‘lost its way in recent years’
Hillsborough Law imposes duty of candour
The House of Commons has passed the Hillsborough Law, in a historic achievement for campaigners, survivors and families of those who died in the 1989 stadium collapse
Judging statistics show mixed bag on diversity progress
Judicial statistics show a steady rise in the number of female judges and Asian and mixed ethnicity judges in the past ten years—however, progress in terms of representation has stalled for both Black lawyers and for solicitors
Copyright © 2026 LexisNexis
back-to-top-scroll