The Simmons v Castle debate continues – Cloisters
‘Sarah Fraser Butlin considers the most recent EAT judgment on the issue in Olayemi v Athena Medical Centre.’
Cloisters, 25th July 2016
Source: www.cloisters.com
Category: psychiatric damage
Tricky quantum case that grapples with PI claims involving multiple tortfeasers and disputes between experts – Cloisters
‘William Latimer-Sayer QC considers the case of XP V Compensa Towarzystwo SA v Przeyslaw Bejger [2016] EWHC 1728 (QB) in which Whipple J had to grapple with a number of tricky quantum issues.’
Cloisters, 25th July 2016
Source: www.cloisters.com
Myth buster: memories of trauma are engraved on the brain – Free Movement
‘We tend to believe that the more important an experience, the more likely it is that it will be “engraved” on the brain. In the asylum system, this is maintained by decision makers who maintain the belief that a genuine victim of trauma will be particularly able to recall the traumatic event.’
Free Movement, 21st June 2016
Source: www.freemovement.org.uk
Bailey v Devon NHS Trust – Tanfield Chambers
‘In Bailey v Devon Partnership NHS Trust the High Court accepted, on the particular facts, that the statutory duty to carry out a risk assessment directly informed the extent of the common law duty of care.’
Tanfield Chambers, 26th May 2016
Source: www.tanfieldchambers.co.uk
Secondary victims revisited: Liverpool Women’s Hospital NHS Foundation Trust v Ronayne – Cloisters
‘Claims by secondary victims are subject to well-known control mechanisms. The classic statement of which came in Alcock v Chief Constable of the South Yorkshire Police[1]:
there must be a close tie of love and affection with the person killed, injured or imperilled;
there must be proximity in time and space to the incident or its immediate aftermath;
the incident or its immediate aftermath must have been directly perceived;
the psychiatric injury must be induced by a sudden shocking event.’
Cloisters, 14th April 2016
Source: www.cloisters.com
British man faces jail after keeping wife as a slave – The Independent
‘A Londoner who brought his Pakistani bride to the UK to use her as a slave and beat her so badly she tried to end her life faces jail.’
The Independent, 27th March 2016
Source: www.independent.co.uk
Is a mere roof enough? – Nearly Legal
‘An application for interim relief in a judicial review of Lambeth’s refusal to provide interim accommodation pending review of the claimant’s homeless application, but one that leaves me thinking (or perhaps hoping) that there must have been more to this than appears in the Lawtel note.’
Nearly Legal, 24th February 2016
Source: www.nearlylegal.co.uk
New guidelines say armed thieves should get longest sentences – The Guardian
‘Thieves armed with guns or knives should get the longest jail terms under new sentencing guidelines for robberies designed to help courts sentence all types of offenders, from a street mugger to a gang guilty of a bank hold-up.’
The Guardian, 28th January 2016
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
Woman claims ‘psychological torture’ over ‘relationship with undercover officer’ – Daily Telegraph
‘In 2015 Scotland Yard made an apology to seven women who were deceived into ‘abusive, deceitful and manipulative’ relationships with undercover police officers’
Daily Telegraph, 18th January 2016
Source: www.telegraph.co.uk
The new criminal offence for domestic abuse cases: section 76 Serious Crime Act 2015 – Park Square Barristers
‘On Tuesday 29th December 2015, Section 76 Serious Crime Act 2015 came into force, this introduced the new criminal offence of “Controlling or coercive behaviour in an intimate or family relationship“. This offence has been introduced to strength the powers of the police, prosecution and courts in combating domestic abuse and dealing with those cases when an individual is trapped in a controlling and abusive relationship, but may not have been physically assaulted. It is also aimed to deal with the difficulties of obtaining convictions for offences under the Protection from Harassment Act 1997 as evidence in the case of R v Curtis [2010] EWCA Crim 123; [2010] 1 Cr. App. R. 31.’
Park Square Barristers, 6th January 2016
Source: www.parksquarebarristers.co.uk
DPP: Controlling and coercive behaviour can “limit victims’ basic human rights” as new domestic abuse law introduced – Crown Prosecution Service
‘Domestic abusers who subject victims to controlling or coercive behaviour could face up to five years in jail under a new law which comes into force today (29 December 2015). The new legislation will mean the CPS can for the first time prosecute specific offences of domestic abuse if there is evidence of repeated, or continuous, controlling or coercive behaviour.’
Crown Prosecution Service, 29th December 2015
Source: www.cps.gov.uk
Intentional infliction of harm in tort law – OUP Blog
‘The tort of intentional infliction of harm would seem to encapsulate a basic moral principle – that if you injure someone intentionally and without just cause or excuse, then you should be liable for the commission of a tort – in addition to any crime that you commit. Occasionally, judges have held that there is such a principle, which is of general application: eg, Bowen LJ in Mogul Steamship v McGregor Gow & Co (1889). While this principle is now uncontroversial in cases of the intended infliction of physical harm (see Bird v Holbrook [1828]), the position has been unclear in so far as it concerns the causation of psychiatric harm. The most important case on intended infliction of psychiatric harm (IIPH) was Wilkinson v Downton (1897). But that case has long been doubted because the defendant had been playing a practical joke upon the claimant, telling her that her husband had been involved in an accident and was lying ‘smashed up’ at Leytonstone. Wright J could find no actual intention to harm, but held that an imputed intention to harm was sufficient to create liability.’
OUP Blog, 14th December 2015
Source: www.blog.oup.com
Damages awarded in ‘sexting’ case for the first time – BBC News
‘Damages for “sexting” have been awarded for the first time, the BBC has learnt.’
BBC News, 30th November 2015
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
Setting the bar high for secondary victim claims – Hardwicke Chambers
‘It had been 10 years since a secondary victim claim had reached the Court of Appeal when the important Taylor v A.Novo(UK) Ltd. [2014] QB 150 case was decided, in March 2013. By contrast, the last six months have seen a series of key decisions illustrating the approach first-instance Courts will take in the light of Taylor, namely Wild v Southend NHS; Brock v Northampton NHS; Berisha v Stone Superstore; Shorter v Surrey & Sussex NHS and culminating in another landmark Appeal decision in Liverpool Women’s Hospital NHS Foundation Trust v Ronayne [2015] EWCA Civ 588.’
Full story
Hardwicke Chambers, 29th August 2015
Source: www.hardwicke.co.uk
Cherry Groce children to sue Met police for damage shooting caused them – The Guardian
‘Five children of Cherry Groce, whose shooting by a police officer led to the 1985 Brixton riots, are to sue the Metropolitan police for the damage caused to them after she was paralysed in the bungled raid almost 30 years ago.’
The Guardian, 6th August 2015
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
Hundreds of UK sex abuse victims lose compensation for committing crimes – The Guardian
‘Hundreds of sexual abuse victims have had their compensation payments reduced after committing crime themselves, according to figures.’
The Guardian, 31st July 2015
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
Stricter control mechanisms for secondary victim claims: Liverpool Women’s Hospital NHS Foundation v Ronayne – Hardwicke Chambers
‘Today’s Court of Appeal judgment in Liverpool Women’s Hospital NHS Foundation Trust v Ronayne [2015] EWCA Civ 588 is an early front runner for the most important tort law case of 2015. It is very good news for hard-pressed NHS Trusts defending claims by relatives shocked by the effect on loved-ones of acts of clinical negligence. Such claims will rarely succeed in the light of today’s decision.’
Hardwicke Chambers, 17th July 2015
Source: www.hardwicke.co.uk
Former girlfriend of undercover spy sues corporate security firm – The Guardian
‘An environmental campaigner who had an intimate relationship with an undercover spy is suing a corporate security firm in what is believed to be the first legal action of its kind.’
The Guardian, 12th July 2015
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
