Quantum: compensation for the lost years

Clinical Negligence

This year, the Supreme Court issued two important judgments of particular relevance to personal injury lawyers. In February 2026, the Supreme Court ruled in CCC (by her mother and litigation friend, MMM) v Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust [2026] UKSC 5; [2026] Med LR 167 that child claimants could recover damages for the so-called "lost years" where their life-expectancy has been limited because of negligence. In A Reference by the Attorney General for Northern Ireland of a devolution issue under paragraph 34 of Schedule 10 to the Northern Ireland Act 1998 [2026] UKSC 16 (" AGNI") the Supreme Court found that the majority in the famous Cheshire West case had been incorrect in their analysis of the Strasbourg law regarding the meaning of "deprivation of liberty" in Article 5 of the European Convention on Human Rights, with a new approach introduced on the day that the judgment was issued.