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Personal injury web site
Accessible through fifteen search engines and offering a referral service to local practitioner, www.AccidentLine.com – set up by solicitor Jane Rawlinson – aims for a panel of 100 law firms paying an annual fee of £2,500 plus..
Online Published Date:
01 March 2000
Appeared in issue:
116 - 01 March 2000
Firstlaw on-line
The Internet firm, set up and run by lawyers offering assistance to clients in the selection of most appropriate firm for their needs, has gone on-line.
Described as ‘not just another law firm with a web page…[or] just a legal..
Online Published Date:
01 March 2000
Appeared in issue:
116 - 01 March 2000
Code of practice on homosexual rights
The Department of Education and Employment has asked the Equal Opportunities Commission to draw up a code of practice on equal treatment of homosexual people in the workplace. It is expected to require equal access to perks -such as free travel..
Online Published Date:
01 March 2000
Appeared in issue:
116 - 01 March 2000
Corporate manslaughter
..
Online Published Date:
01 March 2000
Appeared in issue:
116 - 01 March 2000
Competition Act
In force from March 2000, legal sources suggest that the Competition Act will trigger a flood of litigation as companies use the courts as a weapon against business rivals, and as a lucrative source of damages.
The Act imposes a double penalty, for..
Online Published Date:
01 March 2000
Appeared in issue:
116 - 01 March 2000
Irish Republic faces l£5bn claims
The Irish Business and Employer’s Confederation (IBEC) forecasts claims totalling l£5bn will be brought against the state in reference to public services and government organisations over the next five years.
As part of on-going pressure..
Online Published Date:
01 March 2000
Appeared in issue:
116 - 01 March 2000
HSE fines unenforceable abroad
Two Swedish engineering companies, fined more than £1mn for their part in the Ramsgate walkway collapse in 1994 in which six people died, have had their fines written off following refusal to pay and going into liquidation. This because health..
Online Published Date:
01 March 2000
Appeared in issue:
116 - 01 March 2000
UK third-party liability insurers 1998
Gross premium income of £2.7bn for third party liability insurance accounted for 9% of overall UK market income in 1998. This was 5% down from the £2.8bn of the previous year, market retention also falling by 5% to £1.9bn...
Online Published Date:
01 March 2000
Appeared in issue:
116 - 01 March 2000
Yugoslavia excluded from green card scheme
Drivers entering or crossing Yugoslav territory will have to purchase local cover, following Yugoslavia’s exclusion from the international Green Card system because of debts to the organisation. Depending on duration of stay, the local Civil..
Online Published Date:
01 March 2000
Appeared in issue:
116 - 01 March 2000
Liability cover for internet traders
American International Group (AIG) has introduced a series of comprehensive liability coverages for companies conducting business on the Internet and those providing Internet-related products and services. This in response to the many new exposures..
Online Published Date:
01 March 2000
Appeared in issue:
116 - 01 March 2000
Legal expenses cover on web
German insurer HUK-Coburg offers legal expenses insurance directly by web; initially for motor policyholders they plan to extend it to other areas. Contract price is the same whether contract made through Net or by conventional means, contact via..
Online Published Date:
01 March 2000
Appeared in issue:
116 - 01 March 2000
Deferred premium for all litigation
..
Online Published Date:
01 March 2000
Appeared in issue:
116 - 01 March 2000
Accident line protect premiums rise
Premiums for some aspects of legal insurance have risen considerably, causing the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers to question the effectiveness of such funding. For example, premiums for non-road traffic accident claims have risen from..
Online Published Date:
01 March 2000
Appeared in issue:
116 - 01 March 2000
New U/W for Northern Ireland
Lloyd’s service company Charrington’s and Crowe Insurance together to provide a locally-based liability underwriting and claims handling service for brokers in Northern Ireland. This based on five years build-up of niche liability..
Online Published Date:
01 March 2000
Appeared in issue:
116 - 01 March 2000
AXA to write from Lloyd’s
Axa Re will write a professional liability account from a box at Lloyd’s, without compromising its position in the London market. A statement makes it clear that this is merely a matter of location (no syndicate involved) because the PI market..
Online Published Date:
01 March 2000
Appeared in issue:
116 - 01 March 2000
St Paul for solicitors’ PI
St Paul International will be insurer for the managing agency scheme, part of the new arrangements for solicitors’ professional indemnity cover. In force from September of this year, it allows for choice of cover through scheme or individual..
Online Published Date:
01 March 2000
Appeared in issue:
116 - 01 March 2000
‘Elaborate shell game’
American International Group (AIG) has been joined by Chubb subsidiary Northwestern Pacific Indemnity in suit against Cigna and a former subsidiary INA. This arose from the establishment of a separate division to limit losses from pollution and..
Online Published Date:
01 March 2000
Appeared in issue:
116 - 01 March 2000
NZ accident compensation monopoly reinstated
The New Zealand government’s reinstallment of ACC’s monopoly in the workplace accident sector will not result in higher levies, according to Finance Minister Michael Cullen. At present private insurers and a small state-owned firm..
Online Published Date:
01 March 2000
Appeared in issue:
116 - 01 March 2000
EU investigates Lloyd’s regulation
The European Commission is investigating alleged failure of the British government to police the Lloyd’s of London insurance market in the 1980s in line with European Union law. The Commission is acting on a complaint from dissident name John..
Online Published Date:
01 March 2000
Appeared in issue:
116 - 01 March 2000
General medical council review
The log-jam of cases of alleged serious misconduct -complaints having more than trebled in six years – along with public disquiet sparked by the revelations about Dr Shipman – has led the General Medical Council to announce a radical..
Online Published Date:
01 March 2000
Appeared in issue:
116 - 01 March 2000
Ernst & Young to pay US$335mn to settle with Cendant
Settlement of a dispute about certification of financial statements from Cendant Corporation – so as to misrepresent company earnings – has been entered into by Ernst & Young. Denying wrongdoing, Ernst and Young claim their auditors..
Online Published Date:
01 March 2000
Appeared in issue:
116 - 01 March 2000
2.2% GDP from cost of litigation
This according to a study by Tillinghast Towers-Perrin, finding that at least 2.2% (US$152bn) of the US’s gross domestic product (GDP) comes from the cost of litigation. The US damages system is ‘by far the most expensive in the..
Online Published Date:
01 March 2000
Appeared in issue:
116 - 01 March 2000
US D&O liability claims awards
The 1999 Directors and Officers Liability Survey by Tillinghast – Towers Perrin shows that the average size of a shareholder D&O liability claim award rose to a highest ever US$8.67mn while the overall pricing for D&O cover..
Online Published Date:
01 March 2000
Appeared in issue:
116 - 01 March 2000
CGU steps out on endowment policies
Third largest endowment provider in Britain, CGU, has announced that it will make up any shortfall between the value of mortgage endowment policies and the original target. This dependant on future investment returns not dipping below an average of..
Online Published Date:
01 March 2000
Appeared in issue:
116 - 01 March 2000
Monitoring, not regulation
The announcement that mortgage lenders are to be monitored by the Financial Services Authority (FSA) has not come up to consumer expectations. Following a period of consultation, economic secretary to the Treasury Melanie Johnson, has put forward a..
Online Published Date:
01 March 2000
Appeared in issue:
116 - 01 March 2000
‘Disgracefully sloppy’
Former Bank of Scotland mortgage contracts were described as ‘disgracefully sloppy’ in a Court of Appeal ruling, overturning a High Court repossession decision. Lamir Ladjadj and his family ran into financial difficulties and, after ten..
Online Published Date:
01 March 2000
Appeared in issue:
116 - 01 March 2000
Interest charges ‘unfair’
In the first action brought by the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) under powers of the 1995 Consumer Contracts Regulations, the Court of Appeal has ruled again Abbey National’s subsidiary First National Bank (FNB).
When FNB refused to voluntarily..
Online Published Date:
01 March 2000
Appeared in issue:
116 - 01 March 2000
Annuity bonus ruling
Equitable Life may have to pay up to £1.5bn to 90,000 policyholders following a Court of Appeal ruling that the cutting of maturity bonuses was unlawful. However, while announcing their intention to appeal to the House of Lords, they also say..
Online Published Date:
01 March 2000
Appeared in issue:
116 - 01 March 2000
Case Update
Subject Ambulance service duty of care
Result An ambulance service could be liable in negligence to a member of the public if, for no good reason, the vehicle sent failed to arrive within a reasonable time. The fact that the call was accepted..
Online Published Date:
01 March 2000
Appeared in issue:
116 - 01 March 2000
Tribunal stats
Recently published stats show that one third of sex discrimination claims before tribunals, in the two years 1997-1999, favoured the employee; less than 20% of race claims were successful. On equal pay, less than 2% favoured the employee and only..
Online Published Date:
01 March 2000
Appeared in issue:
116 - 01 March 2000
Discrimination after employment
Refusal to provide a reference for a former employee, Belinda Coote who left her job after settling a sex discrimination dispute, is actionable and covered (in the circumstances applying) by the Sex Discrimination Act. The following hearing by the..
Online Published Date:
01 March 2000
Appeared in issue:
116 - 01 March 2000
Right to challenge blacklist
A teacher, whose name is on a government employment blacklist (the Health Consultancy Service Index) following unproven and unprosecuted allegations of sexual abuse of pupils, has won the right to judicial review in the High Court. This under..
Online Published Date:
01 March 2000
Appeared in issue:
116 - 01 March 2000
Hairy discrimination
A publican, Neil Wagstaff, was ordered to pay £566 (£66 loss of earnings, £500 for injury to feelings) to a prospective barman whose interview was cut short when he refused to cut his fifteen inch pony-tail. At tribunal Mark Pell..
Online Published Date:
01 March 2000
Appeared in issue:
116 - 01 March 2000
‘Slow’ worker sacking fair
A Birmingham industrial tribunal found that Ambertex Clothing was entitled to dismiss a ‘slow’ worker as they did not wish to pay her the minimum wage of £3.60 an hour. Gurdev Kaur had been employed for over two hours, on a piece..
Online Published Date:
01 March 2000
Appeared in issue:
116 - 01 March 2000
School not a safe place of work
John Gill, head of science for 16 years, progressively suffered headaches, tiredness and appeared incompetent in his work. Although his condition improved during school holidays the real cause – carbon monoxide leaking in the boiler room,..
Online Published Date:
01 March 2000
Appeared in issue:
116 - 01 March 2000
Asbestos exposure at sea
The awards to the first of possibly hundreds of claimants for exposure to asbestos while at sea have been approved in Manchester High Court. Exposure took place in the engine room of oil tankers during the 1950s.
£270,000 from Shell and a..
Online Published Date:
01 March 2000
Appeared in issue:
116 - 01 March 2000
BNFL battles for accreditation
The nuclear fuel plant at Sellafield in Cumbria has sent all 120 staff on paid leave while putting into operation the corrective measures ordered by Lloyd’s Register. The industrial and shipping inspection specialist was called in last..
Online Published Date:
01 March 2000
Appeared in issue:
116 - 01 March 2000
Depleted uranium study
Causing public surprise and disquiet when found as frequently used as aircraft ballast, as well as in armour-piercing shells, risks from the use of depleted uranium are to be investigated by the Royal Society. Depleted uranium has been blamed for..
Online Published Date:
01 March 2000
Appeared in issue:
116 - 01 March 2000
Nuclear exposure estimate raised
Estimates of the number of people exposed to nuclear radiation last September, at JCO’s Tokaimura processing plant, has been raised from 70 to 439. The new figures take account of local residents and plant workers who were not equipped with..
Online Published Date:
01 March 2000
Appeared in issue:
116 - 01 March 2000
Europe’s worst environmental disaster since Chernobyl
The collapse of a reservoir wall led to the leakage of 22mn gallons of cyanide-polluted water between January 30 and February 2, spreading into Hungary’s River Tisza itself a tributary of the Danube and hence to the Black Sea. This occurred at..
Online Published Date:
01 March 2000
Appeared in issue:
116 - 01 March 2000
‘To collect your winnings…do not pass go!’
Reminiscent of board-game rules, two children cannot collect US$2mn damages for the death of their father unless they make a legally impossible change of country of residence.
Lloren Lazo-Febles left Cuba illegally in 1994, getting work in the..
Online Published Date:
01 March 2000
Appeared in issue:
116 - 01 March 2000
Lawsuit investment
A new development in the financing of litigation has emerged, with investment firms making money available to plaintiffs in return for a cut of any settlement or court award. The finance is seen as helping plaintiffs win bigger amounts from..
Online Published Date:
01 March 2000
Appeared in issue:
116 - 01 March 2000
Improper change of treatment
Removal of Caitlyn Chipps (suffering from cerebral palsy) from the chronically ill case management program led to US$80mn (US$78.5mn thereof punitive) damages against health maintenance organisation Humana Inc. This despite reinstatement..
Online Published Date:
01 March 2000
Appeared in issue:
116 - 01 March 2000
Correctable condition not a disability
The decision of the US Supreme Court to bar discrimination suits under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), where the condition is correctable, will take out actions by more than 100mn workers with heart conditions, poor vision, high blood..
Online Published Date:
01 March 2000
Appeared in issue:
116 - 01 March 2000
Varied coverages for different disabilities
Employers have the right to provide better coverage for workers with physical disabilities than for those with mental problems; so ruled the US 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in Weyer v 20th Century Fox Film Corp and Unum Life Insurance Co.
It was..
Online Published Date:
01 March 2000
Appeared in issue:
116 - 01 March 2000
AIDS benefit cap
The US Supreme Court has allowed a differential cap to be set on health care benefits in respect of AIDS-related conditions, considerably lower than for other ills. This despite federal anti-discrimination law. The court let stand – without..
Online Published Date:
01 March 2000
Appeared in issue:
116 - 01 March 2000
Rail crossing award cut to US$75mn
Catastrophic injuries and brain damage sustained by a woman in a rail crossing accident have still resulted in one of the largest awards in this class. This after reduction from US$160mn to US$75mn. The Jackson County court held that Union..
Online Published Date:
01 March 2000
Appeared in issue:
116 - 01 March 2000
Negligent entrustment rejected
Judge Stephen Schiller of Illinois Cook County Circuit Court has rejected part of the City of Chicago’s suit against gun manufacturers. Held that the principle of negligence invoked, on distribution of firearms, could be applied only to..
Online Published Date:
01 March 2000
Appeared in issue:
116 - 01 March 2000
Sales practices settlement approved
The US District Court in Pittsburgh has approved a US$1.7bn settlement on behalf of Metropolitan Life Insurance Co policyholders who bought Met Life products between 1982 and 1997 and were affected by allegedly improper Met Life sales..
Online Published Date:
01 March 2000
Appeared in issue:
116 - 01 March 2000
Structured settlement sale upheld
The 3rd US Circuit Court of Appeals has upheld the sale by a New Jersey man, Victor Jacquette, of his structured settlement payments, despite a prohibiting clause in the agreement. This is because, although the contract prohibited assigning the..
Online Published Date:
01 March 2000
Appeared in issue:
116 - 01 March 2000
Tobacco update
First tobacco company to target insurers,
Liggett filed in Delaware on 4 February 2000, seeking to prove that policies taken out as early as the 1940s cover liability and personal injury claims from the smoking of cigarettes. Part of the Brook..
Online Published Date:
01 March 2000
Appeared in issue:
116 - 01 March 2000
BSE, CJD and OPs
Further delay of Phillips Inquiry report,
for at least six months. Lawyers representing the families of those who have died accept the reasons – to allow full analysis so that lessons could be learnt.
159 referrals of suspected CJD
(all..
Online Published Date:
01 March 2000
Appeared in issue:
116 - 01 March 2000
Mediation of medical negligence
The Department of Health report ‘Mediating Medical Negligence Claims: An Option for the Future’ reveals that fewer cases were referred under the scheme than expected. This is attributed in part to lawyer-reluctance and insufficient..
Online Published Date:
01 March 2000
Appeared in issue:
116 - 01 March 2000
Pondimin payout
American Home Products – working on a mega-settlement deal with Fen-Phen drug claimants – has settled an individual wrongful death suit of US$10mn. This arises from the death of Mary Linnen from a rare lung disease after taking the..
Online Published Date:
01 March 2000
Appeared in issue:
116 - 01 March 2000
Condom failure
A faulty condom claim from Marion Richardson for £120,000, for the discomfort and inconvenience of pregnancy and finance loss through the birth, has failed. Manufacturer LRC Products denied supplying a defective product, also pointing to her..
Online Published Date:
01 March 2000
Appeared in issue:
116 - 01 March 2000
Surrogacy costs after medical negligence not ruled out
In a first such claim in the UK, stating that surrogacy costs should not be ruled out as the basis for damages in future negligence cases, Mrs Justice Ebsworth rejected the claim of Patricia Briody. Left infertile due to clinical negligence when she..
Online Published Date:
01 March 2000
Appeared in issue:
116 - 01 March 2000
Ambulance’s duty to respond
A pregnant asthma sufferer, Tracey Kent, suffered brain damage while waiting for an ambulance to respond to a 999 call; further, when they did arrive, the crew failed to give oxygen continuously on the journey to hospital. She also lost her unborn..
Online Published Date:
01 March 2000
Appeared in issue:
116 - 01 March 2000
Awards & settlements
‘Mr Blobby’s’ voice
ruined by dehydration suffered due to wearing padded latex costume, singing six times a day. Trainee operatic tenor has had to give up performance ambitions. Substantial undisclosed settlement taking account of..
Online Published Date:
01 March 2000
Appeared in issue:
116 - 01 March 2000
The Contracts (Rights of Third Parties) Act 1999: The Insurance Implications
Tim Hunt, partner in Merricks Solicitors, looks at the insurance implications of some aspects of this Act which come into force from May of this year.
Online Published Date:
01 March 2000
Appeared in issue:
116 - 01 March 2000
Polystyrene facades
A suit against 10 EIFS manufacturers, filed in North Carolina (New Hanover County) has achieved certified class action. EIFS are the (US) term for synthetic exterior wall cladding used to give insulation and exterior finish to building facades. Of..
Online Published Date:
01 March 2000
Appeared in issue:
116 - 01 March 2000
Court of Appeal may double compensation
Mr Justice Nolan has referred the claim of roofing worker Neville Edwards to the Court of Appeal, for consideration of doubling the pain and suffering element of a £985,000 award in line with recommendations of the Law Commission. This part of..
Online Published Date:
01 March 2000
Appeared in issue:
116 - 01 March 2000
Nuclear veterans setback
Former servicemen, seeking compensation for illness claimed to stem from their participation in nuclear tests in the 1950s, have lost their appeal for re-opening of their case in the European Court of Human Rights.
In 1998 the court ruled that the..
Online Published Date:
01 March 2000
Appeared in issue:
116 - 01 March 2000
Arrangements for child abuse action
In a practice direction issued on 20 December, Lord Chief Justice Bingham detailed arrangements for the prosecution of personal injury claims for damages relating to abuse of claimants while in a Cheshire County Council children’s home...
Online Published Date:
01 March 2000
Appeared in issue:
116 - 01 March 2000
Shipman claims?
None have been formulated, at the time of writing, but legal circles are already discussing whether claims against police, or health authority, could run, following the GPs series of murders.
Noting that the action brought in 1989 against the..
Online Published Date:
01 March 2000
Appeared in issue:
116 - 01 March 2000
Failure to spot rogue trader
..
Online Published Date:
01 March 2000
Appeared in issue:
116 - 01 March 2000
Pub landlord’s involvement in death
A private prosecution for manslaughter, brought by Graham Bailey against a pub landlord, Edward Moorcroft, who sold alcohol to a 14-year-old who subsequently fell under the wheels of a train, has been halted. This in Preston Crown Court on the legal..
Online Published Date:
01 March 2000
Appeared in issue:
116 - 01 March 2000
Tissue factory targets fire service
A Wolverhampton tissue firm, AP (UK), whose premises were destroyed by fire in February 1999, is targeting the West Midlands Fire Service alleging negligence. They also target Independent Insurance, Limit Syndicate 318 and broker Bainbridge Collins..
Online Published Date:
01 March 2000
Appeared in issue:
116 - 01 March 2000
Class action against AOL
An action has been filed in Alexandria (US) against America Online, on behalf of its 8mn customers, claiming that the latest version of its software, cripples existing internet accounts with other companies. AOL claim that there is no problem,..
Online Published Date:
01 March 2000
Appeared in issue:
116 - 01 March 2000
Bruhl rail crash
German railways Deutsche Bahn (DB) started paying interim compensation, within days, to some of the eight dead and 149 injured in the train derailment near the town of Bruhl. There are no details of claims at the time of writing, but they are a..
Online Published Date:
01 March 2000
Appeared in issue:
116 - 01 March 2000
Icing conditions
A pilot refused to fly, due to risk from icing conditions; his contract with American Eagle was terminated. Despite American Eagle’s argument that he had failed to properly execute company procedure, a Texas jury found wrongful termination and..
Online Published Date:
01 March 2000
Appeared in issue:
116 - 01 March 2000
Contaminated fuel
The contamination of aircraft fuel from Exxon Mobil in Australia becomes murkier. Class actions have been launched on behalf of an estimated 5,000 operators of civil aircraft, grounded, in some cases, for weeks, seeking at least A$100mn...
Online Published Date:
01 March 2000
Appeared in issue:
116 - 01 March 2000
Compensation for airport hijack delays
Irate would-be passengers at Stansted Airport, seeking sustenance and sympathy, found that compensation for on-site delay, due to hijack, was not forthcoming. The airport authorities say that, as the situation of accepting the Afghanistan! plane was..
Online Published Date:
01 March 2000
Appeared in issue:
116 - 01 March 2000
Alaska airlines crash
Following the 31 January crash of Alaska Airlines (AA) Flight 261 (a 1992 MD-80) off coast of California, killing all 88 people on board, Boeing has urged carriers to check for faults in the stabilising system of around 2,000 planes in the series..
Online Published Date:
01 March 2000
Appeared in issue:
116 - 01 March 2000
New sea rescue convention in force
New rules on co-operation between states in search and rescue operations at sea comes into force on 1 January 2000. The International Maritime Organization hopes it will boost sign-up rates among coastal states, 64 of which, representing almost 50%..
Online Published Date:
01 March 2000
Appeared in issue:
116 - 01 March 2000
Knock-for-knock confirmed
Piper Alpha operator Occidental (now ELF) has won confirmation of the understood working of ‘knock for knock’ in the context of North Sea operations. The Inner House of the Court of Sessions confirmed the principle of each..
Online Published Date:
01 March 2000
Appeared in issue:
116 - 01 March 2000
Sleipner
lifejackets
Lifejackets supplied by Canepa & Campi Artica, as used on the Sleipner
where sixteen people died after it struck rocks on the Norwegian coast, are under serious doubt of effectiveness.
Lloyd’s List
reports that classification society..
Online Published Date:
01 March 2000
Appeared in issue:
116 - 01 March 2000
Illegal clumping of chemicals
..
Online Published Date:
01 March 2000
Appeared in issue:
116 - 01 March 2000
Losses from Idle Volgoneft-147
SFAT, the Russian owners of tanker Volgoneft-147, currently under detention, will seek compensation from British company Prim Star, which chartered the ship to transport 4,000 tonnes of Iranian fuel oil.
Losses of US$300,000 as of early February..
Online Published Date:
01 March 2000
Appeared in issue:
116 - 01 March 2000
Marchioness public inquiry
After ten years of campaigning by relatives and victims, a public inquiry, under Lord Justice Clarke, will look into all aspects of the collision between the Marchioness and Bowbelle on the river Thames in 1989, resulting in 51 deaths. There will be..
Online Published Date:
01 March 2000
Appeared in issue:
116 - 01 March 2000
Others sink in Erika’s
wake
As oil-spill cleanup continues, Classification Societies are under attack, as in the call from the German Association of Captains’ and Ships’ Officers for their inclusion as liable following accidents. Although the primary responsibility..
Online Published Date:
01 March 2000
Appeared in issue:
116 - 01 March 2000
All at Sea?
Once upon a time, Marine and Aviation insurance was a discrete mystery, with a language and methodology all of its own. Hull and cargo loss was the bread-and-butter of the sector. No longer.
Now, every event includes wider applications –..
Online Published Date:
01 March 2000
Appeared in issue:
116 - 01 March 2000