Liability
Find out more about DWF's employers and public liability team
No vicarious liability for Christmas party accident
It was only last year that the Court of Appeal considered the issue of vicarious liability following an assault after a Christmas party in Bellman v Northampton Recruitment Ltd (2018). This month, the…
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Failure to establish fundamental dishonesty shows pitfalls to be avoided
The decision by HHJ Hampton in the Leicester County Court in Spencer Smith v Ashwell Maintenance Limited on 23 January 2019 just over a year after the LOCOG v Sinfield (2018) decision has raised more…
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£6.6 million personal injury claim falls away due to fundamental dishonesty
DWF has obtained a significant reduction in a substantial claim for damages, raising arguments of fundamental dishonesty. Whilst the claimant had genuinely suffered a serious hip fracture, the…
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DWF successfully defends claims brought against its client, Tonkolili Iron Ore (SL) Limited, relating to the unfortunate events which led to the injuries of 142 individuals in Sierra Leone
Turner J confirmed in a Judgment today that injured claimants had failed to establish liability in respect of any of the bases upon which they sought to bring their claims arising from injuries…
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Court of Appeal finds vicarious liability for violence of managing director during aftermath of company's Christmas party
Earlier this month the Court of Appeal handed down judgment in Bellman v Northampton Recruitment Ltd (2018). Samantha Chambers and Paul Donnelly consider the implications of the judgment which…
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Vicarious liability and independent contractors
Vicarious liability has regularly been under the spotlight recently. Sheryl Bignell and Paul Donnelly look at the Court of Appeal's decision which clarifies that following repeated extensions to the…
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When an accident is just an accident: first judicial guidance on ERRA
Seema Bains Partner in DWF's London office and Nigel Lewers of 12 King's Bench Walk acted for an employer and their insurers, in what we believe to be the first reported case to consider the…
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Workplace regulations: policing the overlap between regulations and curtailing the impact of Hide v Steeplechase
The Chief Constable, and the company responsible for maintaining a police station, were not liable for injuries caused when a police officer trapped her thumb in an electronically operated door when…
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Investigation into suspected exaggeration helps QBE defeat £150,000 claim and recover costs
DWF, Cunningham Lindsey t/a Sedgwick, and QBE have successfully obtained a finding of fundamental dishonesty against a claimant who exaggerated the nature and extent of the injuries he suffered in an…
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Claimant avoids finding of fundamental dishonesty by the court attributing blame instead to his expert
In the third in a series of recent High Court decisions grappling with the concept of 'fundamental dishonesty' in relation to section 57 of the Criminal Justice and Courts Act 2015 ("Section 57"), DWF…
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