header-logo header-logo

Personal injury update: 30 May 2025

220711
Vijay Ganapathy & Claire Spearpoint discuss recent cases covering the assumption of responsibility, capacity, and the limits of without prejudice communications
  • Whether a police authority was liable for injuries suffered by a suspect who attempted suicide following release from custody,
  • Capacity and the difficult exercise faced when expert evidence is inadequate
  • The protection afforded to ‘without prejudice’ communications is not absolute.

Assumption of responsibility is an area of tort that has attracted much debate as there is no clear definition as to when it applies. As is usual, the law in this area has developed incrementally over time, with various rulings identifying specific situations in which someone could be deemed to have assumed responsibility.

Dobson (a protected party by his litigation friend Mrs Anne Dobson) v The Chief Constable of Leicestershire Police [2025] EWHC 272 (KB) centred on whether Leicestershire Police authority had assumed such a duty for Mr Dobson after he was discharged from their custody.

Mr Dobson is an insulin-dependent

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

Mourant—Stephen Alexander

Mourant—Stephen Alexander

Jersey litigation lead appointed to global STEP Council

mfg Solicitors—nine trainees

mfg Solicitors—nine trainees

Firm invests in future talent with new training cohort

360 Law Group—Anthony Gahan

360 Law Group—Anthony Gahan

Investment banking veteran appointed as chairman to drive global growth

NEWS
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
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
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
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
back-to-top-scroll