Pasfield v South Essex Health Authority – QBD 20 May 1996 Claimant: Maureen Pasfield, 55 Incident: Medical negligence Injuries: Claimant, an auxiliary nurse, slipped on wet grass and fractured her ankle and lower leg; claimed she was fitted with a “tubigrip” bandage, prescribed painkillers and told to exercise her ankle, when she should have been […]
Cases pending in the Queen’s Bench Division jury list include: Branson v Snowden (not before 15 July); Branson v G Tech UK Corporation and anor (not before 15 July); Snowden v Branson (not before 15 July); McPhilemy v Express Newspapers & ors (no date yet); Campbell v Commissioner of Police for the Metropolis (not before […]
Garden clauses and covenants in restraint of trade Credit Suisse Asset Management v Armstrong & ors (1996) CA (Neill LJ, Morritt LJ and Hutchison LJ) 15/5/96. Summary: Garden clauses and covenants in restraint of trade discussed in an application by employees to discharge an interlocutory injunction restraining them from working for a competitor of the […]
Pride Valley Foods is suing its insurers after they refused to pay a £6 million claim following a fire last December at its factory in Seaham, Co Durham. In the writ, Pride Valley says it took out insurance with Independent Insurance Co and Lombard General Insurance Co last November. The fire, Pride Valley claims, caused […]
An action reported in the ‘Forthcoming Case’ section of The Lawyer on 30 January has now settled. Last ditch moves in the long-running battle over ownership of millions of pounds worth of work by sculptor Henry Moore have ended in defeat for the artist’s daughter. The Law Lords have ruled that his daughter, Mary, who […]
A survey of 30 City law firms has revealed why candidates turn down offers of alternative positions in private practices. Legal recruitment consultants Laurence Simons International discovered 80 per cent of candidates, when offered alternative positions, did not want to move from their present position, 17 per cent refused because they had already accepted alternative […]
VOLUNTARILY outsourced legal work may have to be included in compulsory tenders if the Government goes ahead with plans to force the pace of local government privatisation. Local government lawyers have voiced concern about proposals to speed up compulsory competitive tendering (CCT) of legal work after suggestions that the “credit” system should be abolished. Under […]
Controversial City lawyer David McIntosh, a fierce opponent of Law Society president Martin Mears, has been elected unopposed to a society council seat in London. Elsewhere, by-elections for council seats are being contested by both Mears supporters and his detractors. The Westminster constituency is being contested by Robert Roscoe and pro-Mears candidate Arnold Rosen. Out […]
The Legal Aid Practitioners Group has appointed Anthea Batty as its new executive administrator. Batty, who has extensive experience of executive administration in the public and professional sectors, will be leaving the Society of Local Authority Chief Executives where she was executive officer. Batty will replace Hazel Davies who is leaving the LAPG after 11 […]
On the face of it, the recent Chancery Division ruling that city-based firm Hextall Erskine is liable to pay £3.6 million in respect of negligent advice given to Silverstone Circuits Ltd (SCL) is a cautionary tale. The obvious moral: don’t give wrong advice. But there is another lesson to be learned, according to the litigation […]
Running a legal practice is an increasingly risky business. Gone are the good old days, when entry into the legal profession meant a secure and fulfilling career. When partners were partners for life and profitability was assured. When firms could practise in peace without the serious threat of competition or the need to win market […]
Charity may begin at home, but the majority of charities surveyed by The Lawyer believe it may also stretch to the offices of a law firm; 65 per cent say their legal bills are “costly but acceptable”. Only 10 per cent of the charities consider the fees charged by their external legal advisers are “excessive”. […]