News & Events
News & Events
In a judgment handed down on the 20th January by Chamberlain J, a claim for damages against Watch Tower, the Jehovah’s Witnesses organisation, was upheld with an award of £62,000 made for the psychiatric injuries suffered by the claimant, with damages for some other losses still to be assessed. The Court heard that the claimant, known as BXB in this case, had been a member of the Barry congregation of Jehovah’s Witnesses and had been instructed by an elder of that congregation to provide support and a “shoulder to cry on” for the elder’s son, Mark Sewell, also an elder of the congregation, whom was suffering from depression. Mark Sewell abused his position as an elder first by attempting to…
News 30 Jan, 2020
Oliver Powell, instructed by Chris Newton and Alex Penberthy of Keoghs, appeared at Southwark Crown Court in relation to an investigation by the Maritime & Coastguard Agency into breaches under s.58 and s.100 of the Merchant Shipping Act 1995 (‘MSA 1995’). Oliver appeared on behalf of London Party Boats Limited, the owner of the Jewel of London (‘the Vessel’), who pleaded guilty to unsafe operation of a ship contrary to s.100 MSA 1995. Mr Wakefield, the master of the Vessel, was separately represented and pleaded guilty to conduct endangering ships, structures or individuals contrary to s.58 MSA 1995. The case concerned the Vessel colliding with the Metropolitan Police Service Marine Unit workshop pontoon, near Wapping. As the Vessel pulled off…
News 29 Jan, 2020
Oliver Powell and Saaman Pourghadiri have joined with William Bobby and Andrew Thornton-Dibb of McGuireWoods London LLP to examine how the use of legal professional privilege developed during 2019 and, in particular, how the law impacts on the practice of conducting international investigations. The article featured in GIR Insight (25 January 2020). Click here to read the article. Oliver is ranked in both Chambers and Partners (UK) and The Legal 500. He undertakes instructions that involve the regulation of business activity and commerce. His practice encompasses: asset forfeiture & civil recovery; business crime; commercial fraud; financial services; indirect tax and sanctions. Recent work of note includes: representing Behzad Fuels (UK) Ltd, a distributor of diesel and kerosene, in the Court…
News 28 Jan, 2020
Tim Aron recently represented Bitfinex in AA v Persons Unknown [2019] in a landmark Bitcoin judgment which recognised Bitcoin as property under English law. In proceedings following hacking and encryption, the court permitted a claimant insurer to be anonymised, granted their application for a private hearing and granted a proprietary injunction against all four defendants. The Commercial Court has allowed a private hearing of an insurer’s application for injunctive relief in proceedings following system hacking and payment of a ransom in Bitcoin. Bryan J was satisfied that CPR 39.2(3)(a), (c), (e) and (g) applied. Publicity would defeat the object of the application as it may alert those in possession of the bitcoin and enable them to dissipate the property. There…
News 27 Jan, 2020
This week the High Court approved a negotiated settlement of just over £2 million in a serious head injury case. Alison McCormick, instructed by Ed Myers of Barratts solicitors, acted for the Claimant, a 25 year old single man, who suffered multiple injuries, including a traumatic brain injury, when he was a passenger in vehicle involved in a road traffic accident in 2015. Primary liability was conceded from the outset; however, the Claimant was not wearing a seat belt, and, on the evidence, had he been restrained, then he would not have sustained such a significant head injury. By consent, in October 2018 judgment was entered for the Claimant for 75% of his damages, to reflect contributory negligence for failing…
News 24 Jan, 2020
Fiona Horlick QC succeeds in demonstrating that an expert called by the GMC in proceedings against a consultant surgeon did not have the expertise to give a suitably qualified opinion. As a result there was no case for Fiona’s client to answer. Fiona represented a renowned Consultant Vitreoretinal Surgeon who faced complex allegations in a MPTS hearing concerning the consequences of vitreoretinal surgery that he had carried out including allegations concerning a suprachoroidal haemorrhage and carrying out a procedure that was not clinically indicated. In order to support its case, the GMC called an Ophthalmic Surgeon who had to admit under cross-examination by Fiona that he was not a vitreoretinal surgeon, that he had never performed a vitreoretinal procedure independently,…
News 23 Jan, 2020
Outer Temple Chambers will be sponsoring the ConTrA and Informa 2020 Trusts in Litigation Conference in Helsinki on 5th – 7th February 2020. The conference will cover trust litigation as well as taking a wider view of where trusts interact with other areas, such as civil fraud, private clients, insolvency and matrimonial work. This will allow attendees to mix with both trust litigators and a range of different other specialists. Claire van Overdijk will be speaking on a workshop style panel entitled “Crime/Regulatory: Trustees in the Clink!” The workshop will explore the issues when trustees are at risk of prosecution such as: When can trust property become the proceeds of crime? Whether and how the trustees can continue to administer…
News 22 Jan, 2020
OTC International Team successful in three UNAT judgments In early 2019, Alex Haines, assisted by Stephen Butler, was instructed in three cases before the United Nations Appeals Tribunal (UNAT) in New York. The UNAT is the UN’s highest court for institutional matters. All three appeals were allowed in the UNAT’s last session of 2019. The cases involved the reclassification of posts within the International Maritime Organisation (IMO), a UN specialised agency responsible for regulating shipping based in London. In the cases of Sheffer v Secretary-General of the IMO, Judgment No. 2019-UNAT-949 and Dispert & Hoe v Secretary-General of the IMO, Judgment No. 2019-UNAT-958, the UNAT held that there were fundamental problems with the manner in which the IMO had dealt…
News 21 Jan, 2020
In this case concerning police pensions, the claimant married couple claimed that it was a breach of their rights under the European Convention on Human Rights and unlawful age discrimination not to grant widow’s benefit to Mrs Carter, if Mr Carter dies before her, on the basis that they only married after Mr Carter retired from police service in 1977. Police pensions are governed by statutory rules under which members have a right of appeal on certain matters to the Crown Court but, in a judgment handed down on 13 June 2019 (R (Carter) v Chelmsford Crown Court and others [2019] EWHC 1484 (Admin), [2019] ICR 1470), the Divisional Court (Coulson LJ and Andrew Baker J) held that this right…
News 21 Jan, 2020
Outer Temple Chambers is delighted to announce that Andrew Allen has been successful in his application to be appointed Queen’s Counsel. He will officially be sworn in during a ceremony at Westminster Hall before the Lord Chancellor on Monday 16 March 2020. Following his call to the Bar in 1995, Andrew specialised in Employment and Discrimination Law. He is regularly instructed by claimants, respondents and defendants in matters concerning TUPE, contractual disputes, discrimination – including within partnerships, equal pay, restrictive covenants, unfair dismissal, redundancy, working time, minimum wage, breach of contract, parental and carers’ rights, remuneration and bonuses. He is also one of the few UK-based experts in Islamic and Middle Eastern Law. Recent landmark cases have included: Antuzis and Others v…
News 16 Jan, 2020
Robert Rhodes QC will be speaking later this month in Dubai at the Legalplus Dubai & MENA 7th International Arbitration & Corporate Crime Summit. He will be moderating a session on managing cross-border investigations and speaking on “adequate procedures” as a defence under the Bribery Act 2010. The full agenda for this event can be viewed here.
News 15 Jan, 2020
Robert Dickason, led by Ben Collins QC, has successfully defended the Ministry of Defence in the High Court appeal brought by former serviceman Pte Wayne Bass, following dismissal of his claim for damages in early 2019. Private Bass contracted Q Fever, leading to Q Fever Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, during his deployment in Afghanistan in 2012. He was medically discharged from the Army and brought a claim for damages against the MOD on the basis that it ought to have provided him with an alternative form of antimalarial which would have protected him against both malaria and Q Fever. He also asserted that the Management of Health and Safety in the Workplace Regulations 1999 applied during his deployment in Afghanistan because…
News 13 Jan, 2020
