Personal Injury Claims
Fighting (2)
For the Plaintiff, “fighting” did not require him to give evidence; the case was run purely on legal arguments. Although the judgement of the three-judge Court of Appeal was unanimous in his favour, the legal arguments were sufficiently cogent to defeat him in first instance (and to have attracted the Defendants’ lawyers to the course of action they took, in the first instance).
Employers’ Duties
An employer owes duties to employees under Common Law and statute. The common law duties have been developed by the courts as they decide cases on accidents at work.
Fighting (1)
Litigation lawyers fight. If a lawyer is not generally fighting, he/she is not in litigation. Sometimes the lawyer is fighting for a plaintiff and sometimes the lawyer is fighting for the defendant.
Insolvent employers
It is a source of additional worry (above the prospect of unemployment) to employees who have been injured at work, to find that their employer is insolvent.
Holiday Hell
The Plaintiffs wished to take their honeymoon in Sharm El Sheikh in Egypt. Having booked, they were alarmed to receive reports that their hotel was being overbooked. They checked with Panorama and were reassured that was not the case. On arrival in Egypt they found it was the case and they were declined accommodation in the hotel contracted for.
Work Accidents
If you are injured at work, it is extremely likely that your employer is responsible for the accident. It is one of the duties of your employer that he/she provide you with a safe place of work.
Health Care Settings?
The Hospital argued that the pleadings in the action alleged a defect with, or in, a forceps used in the Hospital. It argued that a claim that a forceps was defective was not a medical negligence claim (“…the correctness or otherwise of the surgical procedure being carried out”), but was a defective product claim.
Negligent? So what?
The logic in the title to this post is lurking in every action alleging negligence, but it is a formidable retort in a medical negligence action.
Proofs in Medical Negligence
A plaintiff must prove the liability of the defendant. This is not equivalent to proving causation. Liability may arise where proof of an error in judgment or management is established, but the plaintiff must go in to prove that that error was the cause, or a cause, of the untoward outcome for the patient.
Contaminated Irish Pork: who pays?
Each purchaser in a supply chain has a claim for breach of contract against the supplier. Thus, the shops and retailers generally in Ireland are obliged to make good the loss to the consumer by the breach of contract. That loss, currently is measured by the cost of the defective product. (The burden of proving the product is defective lies on the purchaser, but that is an issue unlikely to represent a problem).