header-logo header-logo

Mind the trips & slips (Pt 2)

07 August 2015 / HH Judge Simon Brown KC
Issue: 7664 / Categories: Features
printer mail-detail
nlj_7664_backpage

HHJ Simon Brown returns to the fast track & a stand-off…

Claimant’s counsel made no opening. Instead we heard the claimant who was cross- examined for an hour or so about precisely where the accident occurred on the path, his prior complaints about the path and his special damages claim for care of £250. A neighbour was then called; he stated for the first time under cross-examination that his former wife had also slipped on the path and he had complained about it. Of the other two witnesses for the claimant; one was too old and infirm to attend court and the other had died having filled in a witness questionnaire.

The defendant

The defendant did not call any evidence but sought through argument, without serving any civil evidence act notices, to rely upon two letters in the trial bundle from a council official as evidence of no complaints being made prior to the accident. The letters did however reveal that the council accepted the path was a highway

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

DWF—19 appointments

DWF—19 appointments

Belfast team bolstered by three senior hires and 16 further appointments

Cadwalader—Andro Atlaga

Cadwalader—Andro Atlaga

Firm strengthens leveraged finance team with London partner hire

Knights—Ella Dodgson & Rebecca Laffan

Knights—Ella Dodgson & Rebecca Laffan

Double hire marks launch of family team in Leeds

NEWS
The Supreme Court issued a landmark judgment in July that overturned the convictions of Tom Hayes and Carlo Palombo, once poster boys of the Libor and Euribor scandal. In NLJ this week, Neil Swift of Peters & Peters considers what the ruling means for financial law enforcement
Bea Rossetto of the National Pro Bono Centre makes the case for ‘General Practice Pro Bono’—using core legal skills to deliver life-changing support, without the need for niche expertise—in this week's NLJ
In this week's NLJ, Steven Ball of Red Lion Chambers unpacks how advances in forensic science finally unmasked Ryland Headley, jailed in 2025 for the 1967 rape and murder of 75-year-old Louisa Dunne. Preserved swabs and palm prints lay dormant for decades until DNA-17 profiling produced a billion-to-one match
Small law firms want to embrace technology but feel lost in a maze of jargon, costs and compliance fears, writes Aisling O’Connell of the Solicitors Regulation Authority in this week's NLJ
Charlie Mercer and Astrid Gillam of Stewarts crunch the numbers on civil fraud claims in the English courts, in this week's NLJ. New data shows civil fraud claims rising steadily since 2014, with the King’s Bench Division overtaking the Commercial Court as the forum of choice for lower-value disputes
back-to-top-scroll