DBLP Sea Cow recovered just £119 of a US$7.125m award before securing a two-year contempt sentence against an absent defendant, while an enforcement officer pursuing £7,700 in another case seized a director’s mobile phone.
Professor Dominic Regan, of City Law School, also examines Burger v Risk Solutions, where Wetherspoons escaped vicarious liability for serious injuries inflicted by outsourced security staff, a conclusion reached ‘with regret’.
He recalls, too, a masterclass in advocacy before Lord Denning.
Finally, Regan considers Mr Justice Nicklin’s indemnity costs ruling in the failed claims brought by Baroness Lawrence and others against Associated Newspapers. Despite repeatedly floating a split order, the judge awarded indemnity costs throughout. The central lesson for litigators is to ‘perform a stock-take’ as evidence develops and abandon hollow allegations before trial and withstand forensic costs scrutiny.
