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Articles for July 2003
No cover for donkey racer
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01 July 2003
A donkey derby business has been forced to close because of the lack of available insurance cover for professional liability. The business, one of only two donkey-race operators in the country, had been insured by..
Equitas increases asbestos reserves
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01 July 2003
Equitas has strengthened its asbestos reserves by £399mn. The move follows a review of its asbestos liabilities. Equitas now has gross undiscounted asbestos reserves of £5.3bn. The company recently reported investment losses of £72mn for..
MDU policies from Converium
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01 July 2003
The Medical Defence Union is to provide its members with an insurance policy underwritten by Converium Insurance (UK) Ltd. The Converium policy will be issued to members from 1 July 2003 and will replace the..
Cover for domestic staff
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01 July 2003
Chubb is offering its Masterpiece Employment Practices Liability Coverage to its homeowners policyholders in Colorado, Illinois, New Jersey and Utah. This policy covers the costs associated with certain lawsuits from a housekeeper, nanny, cook or..
Punitive damage award to be reconsidered
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01 July 2003
The $290mn punitive damage award in the product liability case Ford Motor Co v Romo
, is to be reconsidered by the Supreme Court of California. The move, ordered by the High Court, follows the decision..
Events
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01 July 2003
Liability Insurance: The History of the Future
9–11 September 2003 • Queens’ College, Cambridge • The Tenth Liability Underwriters Group Conference
The programme includes Master Classes; Legal developments in Psychiatric Injury Litigation; Genetic Engineering and the Liability..
CFA decision welcomed
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01 July 2003
The Court of Appeal’s decision to give the defendant sight of the claimant’s conditional fee arrangement (CFA) when negotiating on the claimant’s costs, has been welcomed by the Forum of Insurance Lawyers (FOIL).
According to FOIL,..
CFAs should enhance not impede
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01 July 2003
The Court of Appeal has ruled in favour of conditional fee agreements (CFAs) in a long running case involving technical challenges by insurers to the deals. Insurers had claimed that lawyers were not complying with..
Policy enhancements for the Wrap
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01 July 2003
Travelers Bond, a division of Travelers Property Casualty has expanded the coverage offered in its executive liability package policy, The Wrap, as well as the addition of miscellaneous professional liability coverage.
Enhancements to the policy include..
Personal injury firms not trusted
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01 July 2003
A survey has revealed that nearly half the people questioned don’t believe that companies who operate personal injury claims services are always honest. And more than half believe that personal injury companies can mislead customers,..
Where there’s blame, there’s a bust company
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01 July 2003
The collapse of the UK’s largest personal injury claims firm Accident Group was reportedly due to its inability to sustain its ‘continual battles with the insurance industry.’ However, the BBC reported that the administrators blamed..
FERMA warning on health of market
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01 July 2003
The Federation of European Risk Management Associations (FERMA) has warned that European businesses are increasingly concerned about the health of the insurance market for commercial risks. The concerns include insurer solvency, lack of choice, increased..
AA to offer EL
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01 July 2003
AA Insurance Services is to offer employers’ liability to small businesses. The move, reported in Insurance Times magazine, was apparently prompted by customers asking for commercial business products following the launch of a commercial vehicles..
ABI says reports are positive
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01 July 2003
The Association of British Insurers (ABI) says that the Government reports on the future of liability insurance ‘are a positive start in the search for long-term solutions.’ But it has renewed its call for long-term..
US dentists sue insurers for abuses
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01 July 2003
A number of US insurers are being sued by the American Dental Association (ADA) and two of its member dentists, under the federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization Act (RICO) for insurance abuses against dentists..
Government review of employers’ liability
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01 July 2003
The government’s report on employers’ liability insurance has concluded that more evidence is needed to assess whether a radical separation of accident from long-tail disease is justified. However, it has also recommended some short term..
Liability market could work better says OFT
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01 July 2003
The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) study into UK liability insurance markets has concluded that the markets could work better. The five-month OFT study found that in 2002 average premiums for employers’ liability insurance rose..
Irish personal injury move
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01 July 2003
The Irish government is planning to set up a Personal Injuries Assessment Board (PIAB) and has already set out draft legislation. The move was prompted by the Irish Motor Insurance Advisory Board which recommended the..
Call for improved child safety seats
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01 July 2003
The AA, in conjunction with Which?, are calling for improved European testing standards on child safety seats, after crash tests carried out on 52 child safety seats revealed that many provide poor protection in a..
Road traffic accidents analysis
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01 July 2003
A study examining road traffic accident fatalities and injuries in the UK during the last 20 years has found that improvements in medical technology and medical care made a significant contribution to the 45% fall..
PI Direct forms IFA mutual
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01 July 2003
PI Direct has acquired professional indemnity provider Magian Underwriting Agency and together have formed Magian Mutual to provide new professional indemnity capacity exclusively for independent financial advisers (IFAs). The move is said to be in..
Top D&O broker in US
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01 July 2003
The largest directors and officers broker in the US, according to the latest Tillinghast-Towers Perrin Survey, is Woodruff-Sawyer & Co with 18.8% of the industry’s market share. The company is one of the largest employee-owned,..
No personal indemnity for non-execs
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01 July 2003
A survey by accountants and business advisers, PKF has found that only 43% of non-executive directors had personal indemnity insurance. According to PFK non-executive directors could soon take on further responsibilities and be held accountable..
Discrimination at work report
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01 July 2003
A new study by the International Labour Office (ILO), entitled ‘Time for Equality at Work’, has concluded that discrimination is still a common problem in the workplace, pointing out that while some of the more..
Stress causes productivity drop
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01 July 2003
Over 50% of British businesses are reporting a drop in productivity as a result of workplace stress, according to a survey by business information provider Croner.
The company carried out a survey of businesses using its..
FRC delays Higgs’ recommendations
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01 July 2003
The Financial Reporting Council (FRC) is to delay the introduction of the Higgs recommendations into the Combined Code on Corporate Governance. The FRC is to set up a working group of FRC members to produce..
No non-economic loss awards
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01 July 2003
The Employment Appeal Tribunal has ruled that tribunals should not award non-economic loss, either in unfair dismissal or wrongful dismissal cases. According to Berwin Leighton Paisner, the Employment Appeal Tribunal considered the issue of non-economic..
Progressive conditions discrimination
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01 July 2003
The Disability Rights Commission (DRC) has urged the Government to urgently introduce legislation to cover people with progressive conditions to ensure they are protected against discrimination from the point at which they are diagnosed. The..
Sunscreen for builders
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01 July 2003
A construction firm in Scotland has issued its workers with factor 25 sunscreen to protect them from skin cancer. The move was apparently in response to figures that show that cases of skin cancer in..
Damages agreement on New York aircrash
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01 July 2003
American Airlines and Airbus have agreed jointly to pay damage claims in connection with the crash of an aircraft at the end of 2001, when the plane lost its tail after take off from New..
Liability not contested in air crash
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01 July 2003
Boeing will not contest liability claims relating to the Alaska Airlines crash in California at the start of 2000, but it stressed it was not admitting liability. It was reported that Alaska Air Group has..
Cruise ship in boiler explosion
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01 July 2003
A boiler explosion aboard a cruise ship, SS Norway, has killed six crew members, and injured 18 others. It is the deadliest cruise ship incident in US waters. The explosion happened in Miami port, while..
Mulheim breaking up
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01 July 2003
All the pollutants and the vast majority of the cargo of the ‘RMS Mulheim’, which went aground four months ago, have now been removed, but the vessel is now starting to break up. The Maritime..
More compensation from oil pollution
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01 July 2003
Victims of oil pollution from oil tanker accidents will see increased levels of compensation in the future, following the adoption of a Protocol establishing an International Oil Pollution Compensation Supplementary Fund.
According to the International Maritime..
Current GM foods safe to eat
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01 July 2003
A new report by The International Council for Science has concluded that currently available genetically modified foods are safe to eat. However, it adds that, ‘this does not guarantee that no risks will be encountered..
CEA on the draft Directive on Environmental Liability
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01 July 2003
The European Parliament vote in the first reading of the draft Directive on Environmental Liability represents a step backwards for the setting up of a practicable scheme, according to the Comitée Européen des Assurances (CEA)...
Wall Street in biased research
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01 July 2003
Wall Street analysts have been accused of often providing biased research in response to investment banking pressures, according to a new study by the University of Michigan Business School. Analysts routinely hype the stock of..
$12.5mn online settlement
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01 July 2003
A $12.5mn lawsuit has been resolved through the double-blind bid system of leading online settlement company Cybersettle, Inc. The settlement is the largest of its kind on Cybersettle and possibly the largest ever facilitated by..
On the other hand…
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01 July 2003
Tough words from the Physician Insurers Association of America (PIAA) which has slammed the Weiss report into caps on non-economic damages, calling it fatally flawed. The PIAA says that ‘While the use of median payment..
Caps do not stop malpractice premium increases
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01 July 2003
Caps on non-economic damages have not prevented major increases in medical malpractice insurance premiums, despite the fact that insurers have enjoyed a slowdown in their payouts, according to a white paper released today by Weiss..
US asbestos litigation fund
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01 July 2003
Legislation has been introduced into the US senate designed to create a $108bn asbestos litigation fund in order to tackle the asbestos litigation crisis. The insurance industry and defendant industrial companies would each contribute around..
Work-related mesothelioma up
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01 July 2003
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has published statistics which show that the total number of male work-related mesothelioma cases in Great Britain tripled over the period covered by the statistics, from 2,317 in 1980–85..
WHO gets tough on tobacco
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01 July 2003
The first ever treaty entirely devoted to health, the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), had been adopted by almost all the countries in the world (all 192 World Health Organization (WHO) member states).
According to..
$145bn smoking award dismissed
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01 July 2003
The $145bn compensation award won by smokers in Florida has been dismissed by the state’s Court of Appeals. The jury award was made in July 2000, and was the largest trial damage award in US..
No cancer risk from passive smoking
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01 July 2003
Passive smoking does not result in an increased risk of heart disease or lung cancer. This is the conclusion of a controversial new long-term study from California which examined the health of around 120,000 adults..
French health fund sues tobacco firms
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01 July 2003
The Caisse Primaire d’Assurance Maladie, France’s national health insurance fund, is suing a number of tobacco companies. The move, by a regional branch of the fund in Saint-Nazaire, is designed to recoup the costs of..
No cancer link for EMFs
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01 July 2003
New research has concluded that electro magnetic fields from overhead power lines do not affect human chromosomes, and therefore are unlikely to cause childhood leukaemia.
Scientists at the National Radiological Protection Board (NRPB) and Brunel University..
vCJD on the decline
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01 July 2003
Researchers from Imperial College London are suggesting that the worst of the vCJD problem could be over. They say that just 40 people could die from vCJD in the UK over the next 80 years...
BSE in Canada – but don’t panic
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01 July 2003
BSE has been discovered in a cow in Canada, but experts say it is not a cause for panic. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) said that it proves that active..
Possible vaccine for BSE
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01 July 2003
Canadian researchers at the University of Toronto are reported to be testing a new vaccine which may be effective in preventing scrapie, BSE and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. A study has been published in the journal Nature..
Warning: fish in beer
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01 July 2003
The brewing industry is breathing a sigh of relief after a proposed EC requirement that UK beer be served with the statement: ‘warning: contains fish products’ has been reconsidered.
According to Berwin Leighton Paisner, the aim..
Danger to drivers from drug labelling
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01 July 2003
The Department for Transport has warned that the labelling of some over-the-counter medicines is inconsistent, inaccurate and could be a danger to drivers. Research into the impairment effects of drugs and driving by the Department..
Diet drug class action opt-outs
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01 July 2003
US pharmaceutical group Wyeth has said that the number of patients who have submitted claims that allege significant heart valve disease from use of its diet drugs, Redux and Pondimin is higher than anticipated. A..
Teflon warning from environmental group
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01 July 2003
A US environmental research organisation is urging the federal government to put warning labels on cookware coated with Teflon and similar non-stick coatings. A study by the Environmental Working Group (EWG) reportedly found that this..
Product liability study from European Commission
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01 July 2003
The European Commission has issued a study into product liability throughout the European Community, which examined the need for reform of product liability laws in the EU, and in particular, whether a uniform product liability..
Carpal Tunnel Syndrome not computer linked
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01 July 2003
A study by Danish researchers has come to the surprising conclusion that computer use does not pose a severe occupational hazard for developing symptoms of carpal tunnel syndrome.
The researchers examined the use of computers on..
NAO reports on NHS trust accidents
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01 July 2003
The number of reported accidents in NHS trusts is increasing, the gap between the best and worst performing trusts is widening and more NHS trusts need to learn from and implement good practice. This is..
Study highlights MMR risk
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01 July 2003
The MMR vaccine may increase the risk of neurological problems, according to a US study. It found that the MMR vaccine was associated with a major increase in the incidence of serious neurological disorders compared..
Media bias in MMR autism story
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01 July 2003
Despite the vast majority of scientific experts rejecting the claim of a link between MMR and autism, 53% of the British public assumed that because both sides of the debate received equal media coverage, there..
Chlorine in pools link to asthma
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01 July 2003
Regular attendance at chlorinated pools by young children is associated with an increase in the risk of developing asthma, according to a new study, though it stressed that this was ‘especially in association with other..
Lawyers blamed for crisis
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01 July 2003
Nearly 70% of consumers in the US blame attorneys and the legal system for surging medical malpractice rates, according to a survey conducted by Weiss Ratings. While 68.6% of respondents found lawyers and the court..
New inquiry into antidepressant drugs
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01 July 2003
The Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) is to carry out a new inquiry into the safety of widely prescribed antidepressant drugs, including Seroxat and Prozac and others of their class, in response to..
No jurisdiction for doctors
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01 July 2003
Employment tribunals do not have jurisdiction over alleged racial discrimination made against the Special Training Authority of the Medical Royal Colleges as it has its own procedures for dealing with such complaints. The Court of..
Delay in claim allowed
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01 July 2003
The Court of Appeal dismissed an appeal by a council against a decision to strike out its limitation defence in a claim for personal injuries. The claim was based on an alleged failure by the..
Breach of duty gives civil action right
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01 July 2003
The Court of Appeal ruled that the failure to comply with statutory regulations for the lowering of lifeboats gave rise to a civil action for damages by seamen injured by that failure. The original judge..
Threshold test still applies for stress claims
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01 July 2003
Professor at a university suffered a nervous breakdown caused by the stress of a restructuring, to which he was opposed. In the initial ruling, the judge said that the senior management at the university were..
Re-hearing orders must be clear
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01 July 2003
The Court of Appeal held that it must be made clear by appeal courts on the face of their orders whether they are ordering a re-hearing of the original appeal at first instance, or whether..
No recovery for non-economic loss
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01 July 2003
In claims of unfair dismissal in employment tribunals, there is no recovery for non-economic loss. Employment Appeal Tribunal considered three unrelated unfair dismissal cases, in the light of the House of Lords decision in Johnson..
No duty of care in combat
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01 July 2003
There is no duty for the Ministry of Defence to maintain a safe system of work for service personnel when they are in combat situations. The court therefore dismissed the claims for damages by former..
Auctioneers not liable if no sale
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01 July 2003
An auctioneer who put up goods for sale, and when they did not sell, returned them to the prospective seller, was not liable in conversion or bailment to the true owner of stolen goods. This..
All or nothing appeals
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01 July 2003
The Employment Appeal Tribunal must be cautious before allowing the appeal to proceed on one of the grounds of appeal, but not allowing the appeal to proceed on another. This was especially so when the..
Professional or personal conduct
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01 July 2003
A doctor who was alleged to have deliberately misled a patient, her general practitioner and the hospital authorities over an operation, should have been investigated under disciplinary procedures relating to professional conduct rather than personal.
The..
Insurers fail in apportionment case
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01 July 2003
Insurers withheld 27.5% of a judgment entered by consent for £205,000, on the basis that they were not on risk for that proportion of the period of culpable exposure. Insurers sought to rely upon a..
Payment-in means liable to costs
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01 July 2003
The acceptance of a payment into court which exceeded a settlement offer did not absolve the defendant from its liability to costs. The court dismissed an application from an airline for an order that it..
No unfair dismissal for director
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01 July 2003
The Court of Appeal held that a former chief executive of a company who ceased to be a director following a takeover, and under the express terms of his written contract ceased to be chief..
Mother not told of Down’s syndrome risk
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01 July 2003
A woman who gave birth to a baby with Down’s syndrome and a defective heart was entitled to sue for damages, because she had not been told about the increased risk of having a child..
Disclosure of conditional fee agreements
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01 July 2003
Conditional fee agreements should be disclosed to the paying party in costs proceedings where costs were claimed, and where the paying party objected to an order made against them on the basis that the arrangement..
Compensation for demoted role
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01 July 2003
A human resources manager has received £19,000 compensation from her employer in an out-of-court settlement after claiming that her job was worth the same as the male financial controller’s.
According to the Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC),..
Aetna settles with doctors
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01 July 2003
Aetna, the US health insurer, is to settle a class action involving more than 700,000 US doctors. The action was based on allegations that Aetna had wrongly cut reimbursements and undermined doctors’ care of patients...
Damages for school accident
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01 July 2003
A man has been awarded £1.9mn damages after an accident left him severely brain damaged. The accident occurred in 1992 at his school when he was hit by a metal object which fell from scaffolding...
Luxury holiday not up to standard
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01 July 2003
A woman whose millennium holiday in Barbados was ruined has been awarded £25,000 damages. The woman rented a luxury holiday villa in Barbados for friends and family over the millennium celebrations.
The four-bedroomed villa was described..
Finally, corporate killing legislation is here
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01 July 2003
It has taken years of discussion, argument and debate, but after numerous delays, the UK government has finally announced that it is to bring in a new law on corporate manslaughter. The law will basically..
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