Personal injury: In the face of uncertainty

• The appropriate method of assessing future loss of earnings where the loss is subject to multiple uncertain contingencies.

In Mathieu v Hinds [2022] EWHC 924, [2022] All ER (D) 66 (Apr) the High Court (Hill J) considered the vexed question of the appropriate method of assessing future loss of earnings where the loss is subject to multiple uncertain contingencies. The case reflects a developing trend of moving away from broad-brush lump-sum ‘Blamire awards’ towards assessment on the more conventional multiplier/multiplicand approach (the multiplier approach).

The claimant was a Canadian artist. In 2013 he began studying on a masters degree course in fine art at Goldsmiths College, London, one of the leading institutions in the field worldwide. By this time his art had already been included in group exhibitions in Quebec City, Washington DC and France. In 2014, during a break from his course, his art was exhibited in Montreal