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A trunk call

22 September 2011 / Nina Unthank
Issue: 7482 / Categories: Features , Personal injury
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Nina Unthank provides an update on the root & branch issues of liability at home & abroad

With the onset of the blustery autumnal weather, the two cases detailed below are particularly pertinent. They highlight how difficult it is to establish liability in negligence or breach of statutory duty for death and injury resulting from falling tree branches.

Falling branches

The Court of Appeal dismissed the claimant’s appeal in Joanne Micklewright (on her own behalf and as executrix of the estate of Christopher John Imison Deceased) v Surrey County Council [2011] EWCA Civ 922, [2011] All ER (D) 281 (Jul). Mr Imison went on a bike ride in Windsor Great Park with his partner and his 13-year-old son. As he was unloading bicycles from the family car he was struck and fatally injured by an oak tree branch weighing nearly one ton which broke away from the trunk some 25 feet away from where he was standing on a public highway. The trial judge found that no proper system of inspection

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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

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Charles Pigott of Mills & Reeve reports on Haynes v Thomson, the first judicial application of the Supreme Court’s For Women Scotland ruling in a discrimination claim, 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
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
Artificial intelligence may be revolutionising the law, but its misuse could wreck cases and careers, warns Clare Arthurs of Penningtons Manches Cooper in this week's NLJ
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