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A grandmother who fractured her hip when she tripped on a Christmas tree decoration in Santa’s grotto in Selfridges in 2009 has won her claim for compensation after the Court of Appeal ruled that Father Christmas and his assistant should have made sure...
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When a woman updated her will in 2003, she had no way of knowing that a simple change to a precedent document could cause problems for her executors several years later. There was no intention to change one of the main provisions of the will, which was that...
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Although pre-nuptial agreements are persuasive rather than binding in the British courts, a recent ruling of the High Court on a French ‘pre-nup’ illustrates clearly the current approach of the courts. It involved a very wealthy French couple...
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A rider who was injured after being thrown from her horse has won compensation of £37,000. The accident happened in 2007 when Ceri Tonkinson was riding in Cosmeston Country Park, near Penarth in Wales. The horse she was riding had only recently been...
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When a property is owned by two people as joint tenants (where the title to the property is owned by each of them, so that if one dies, the other inherits the property by survivorship), each of them is considered to be the legal owner of the property. A man...
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A retired plumber who was diagnosed with mesothelioma after being exposed to asbestos at work has won £115,000 in damages. The man had worked almost exclusively for the same building firm between 1950 and the early 1970s. He was exposed to asbestos...
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A North Somerset man has received a six-figure sum in compensation after a mistake during an operation on his heart led to him having to have a pacemaker fitted. Steve Edwards, 51, an NHS manager from Weston-super-Mare, was undergoing treatment for an...
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The wave of litigation which has followed the turmoil in the financial markets as a result of the credit crunch has led to many decisions that have resulted in those suing financial institutions being left to lick their wounds (and also facing sizeable legal...
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After years of litigation, a young woman who suffered life-changing injuries when she was hit by a car as a child has been awarded a compensation settlement worth more than £9 million. Leigh Ann Blinkhorn, now 23, was seven years old when the accident...
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A court ruling that a spouse’s lottery winnings were not ‘matrimonial property’ so were not subject to the usual rule of equal division between the spouses when the marriage broke up received much publicity recently. The normal rule on...
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The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) has now published its response to the recent consultation on proposals to criminalise squatting. The consultation paper, entitled ‘Options for dealing with squatting’ , received over 2,000 responses. As a first...
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A man who was almost blinded after an accident at work has won an undisclosed amount in damages. Trevor Watson, 42, was working as a drainage engineer. He was instructed to take his truck to a hydraulic specialist because of a blockage in its jetting...
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When a Jersey multi-millionaire gave most of his assets away to one of his daughters in the months prior to his death, leaving an estate of less than £100,000 to be shared by all three of his children, it was perhaps inevitable that a legal challenge...
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An engineer who was seriously injured when he fell through a roof has won more than £164,000 in damages. The 66-year-old man worked for electronics and electrical engineering company Siemens. He was installing CCTV cameras at Liverpool Lime Street...
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The scheme set up by the Government to assess the value of Northern Rock shares, for the purposes of deciding whether or not compensation was due to shareholders, concluded that without government support the shares would be valueless. A group of...
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A woman who lost a filling when she bit into an oven chip has won compensation from the manufacturer of the product. Susan Stapylton, 60, was eating Aunt Bessie’s oven chips. She bit into something solid and dislodged a filling in one of her wisdom...
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HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) have had difficulties in the past in checking on property sales to ensure that the ‘principal private residence’ exemption for Capital Gains Tax (CGT) is being used correctly. Notwithstanding the complexity of the...
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A golfer who was hit in the face by a stray golf ball has received compensation for her injuries. Rachel Davis was walking back to the car park from the ninth hole at Branston Golf and Country Club in Staffordshire when the accident happened. The ball hit...
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A Gulf War veteran who suffered life-changing injuries when he hit a pothole and was thrown from his motorcycle has won an undisclosed amount in compensation from the council responsible for the upkeep of the road. The accident happened in February 2009,...
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When a marriage or civil partnership breaks up and there is a significant risk that one party may move assets (normally cash in bank accounts) ‘out of sight’, it is sometimes possible to obtain a ‘freezing order’ to prevent the sums...
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A recent case illustrates how strong the evidence must be before the presumption that a person making a will has the mental capacity to do so will be overturned. It involved an elderly woman who died leaving an estate of a little under £150,000. Her...
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A retired man who has been diagnosed with an asbestos-related disease several decades after exposure has received more than £141,000 in compensation. For more than 20 years, the man worked as a labourer at a paper mill, where he operated a paper...
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When a house is bought or sold, the prospective purchaser makes what are called ‘pre-contract enquiries’ in order to establish the exact details of the property being bought. These are normally in the form of a standard set of questions with any...
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Most people probably do not realise that a highway authority’s responsibility for keeping the roads safe to use is very limited. In practical terms, so many things can happen to a road that it would be unreasonable for the authority to be responsible...
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A shopper who was injured when he tried to lift a faulty box containing flat-pack furniture has won £11,000 in damages. The man was shopping at a major supermarket when the accident happened. He wished to buy the furniture and was attempting to remove...
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One of the rules that applies to the administration of estates is that whilst a person appointed as executor under a will can refuse to accept the appointment, once an executor ‘intermeddles’ in the estate, in principle he or she cannot then...
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A man who suffered damage to his hearing as a result of exposure to excessive noise in the workplace has won compensation from his employer. William Shipman, from West Yorkshire, had worked in a variety of jobs for a packaging company. During his...
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The cardinal rule in proceedings involving children is that the welfare of the child comes first. In some cases, the interests of individual children in a family are sufficiently different for them to be considered separately. In a case involving a...
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A woman who missed out on her holiday after she fell down a set of temporary stairs at Birmingham International Airport has won £28,000 in compensation from Thomson Airways. Sheila Gilling, 69, was boarding a flight to Lanzarote when the accident...
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In order for an asset to be removed from an estate for Inheritance Tax (IHT) purposes, the donor of the asset must retain no benefit from it after the legal title to it passes. Complex ‘reservation of benefit’ legislation exists to ensure that...
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A former professional jockey who was injured while working on an equestrian farm has won £22,000 in compensation. Jeffery Kear was working as an equestrian facilities manager at Stockland Lovell, near Bridgwater in Somerset. He had only been employed...
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The UK has been proceeding apace in its attempts to develop ‘green’ energy, and wind turbines are appearing all over the country – including in such seemingly unlikely spots as beside the M25. However, no matter what their benefits as...
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A man who suffered a serious spinal injury as a result of a mistaken hospital diagnosis in 2000 has won an undisclosed amount in compensation. Liam Careless, now 23, was 12 years old when he was taken to Tameside Hospital complaining of paralysis in his...
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A husband has lost his appeal against an order made in July 2010 for ancillary relief (the legal term for financial provision for an ex-spouse) that put family assets of £10 million, including £7 million held in two trusts, into the pool of...
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A man who was run over by musician Pete Doherty’s Daimler in 2009 has won an undisclosed amount in compensation at the High Court. Chris Corder, 42, was delivering church newsletters near Hadleigh in Suffolk when the accident happened. He was struck...
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When a millionaire estate agent died intestate, the two women he had been involved with both tried to have his estate distributed according to their wishes. Chris John died leaving an estate worth £5 million. At the time of his death, he had been...
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The widow of a man who died of an asbestos-related disease has won over £250,000 in compensation. William Wolff had worked as a joiner for 50 years before he retired in 2005, three months before his 65th birthday. He and his wife had planned to tour...
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An amateur footballer who was seriously injured while playing on a poorly maintained pitch was recently awarded £22,700 in compensation at Dewsbury County Court. Paul Zoledziejewski, a 33-year-old mechanic, was playing for his club on a pitch in Shelf...
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It is well known that in the UK, the loser in a court case pays the legal costs of the winner. It is often assumed that if, say, your legal costs are £5,000 and you win your case, you will get the £5,000 reimbursed. However, this is normally not...
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A grandmother has won substantial compensation for injuries she sustained when she slipped on a spillage at an ASDA superstore. Patricia Hill, 73, was shopping at the Rivergate store in Peterborough when she slipped on what was thought to be vegetable...
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People who suffered losses as a result of the collapse of mutual insurer Equitable Life in 2000 will be pleased to know that the compensation payments they receive as a result of the passing of the Equitable Life (Payments) Act 2010 will be tax free. The...
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The recent case in which the court was asked to rule regarding a vacant flat that was part of a property sold at auction – the existence of which neither the vendor nor the purchaser was aware of until after the sale – has now been heard by the...
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Every employer must provide employees with suitable personal protective equipment to guard against exposure to health and safety hazards while they are at work. To this end, employers should carry out risk assessments to identify any foreseeable risks faced...
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A widow who was excluded from inheriting her husband’s £500,000 estate, under the terms of a will he made four years before he died in 2009, has contested the will, alleging that the brain tumour from which her husband was suffering meant that he...
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A father who sought to have a hearing regarding his contact with his children adjourned so that new evidence could be obtained found his argument rejected by the Court of Appeal recently. The family court had issued an interim order that the father, who had...
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The court has approved a compensation settlement of £900,000 for a boy whose leg had to be amputated shortly after he was born. Leo Ison, now six, was just three weeks old when doctors at Glenfield Hospital in Leicester told his parents that he would...
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A landowner’s duty of care with regard to land used by members of the public was the subject of a recent case in the High Court . The limits of legal responsibility in such circumstances are established generally by the law of tort (civil injury to...
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The construction industry is one of the most dangerous in which to earn a living. A construction worker who was seriously injured in a fall from height at work has secured a compensation package worth millions of pounds. The 38-year-old man was working for...
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New measures put forward by HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) to deal with the problem of ‘tax agents who act dishonestly in tax matters’ include proposals that HMRC should ‘name and shame’ advisers who are found to have acted dishonestly...
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A man who was struck by a van while walking through a car park has won £5,500 in damages. The man was returning to his car when he saw a van reversing, so he altered his route so that he passed in front of the vehicle. The van driver quickly changed...
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Years ago, it was common for a deed creating a trust for children to specify the beneficiaries as being ‘the legitimate children’ of the person setting up the trust. Recently, the children of the 13th Duke of Manchester, by his bigamous marriage...
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A woman who was left permanently disabled after a routine hip operation went wrong has won over £100,000 in damages. Margaret Peabody, 51, was suffering from painful osteoarthritis and, in 2008, underwent an operation at the St Cross Hospital in Rugby...
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A woman who fell from a boat during a pleasure cruise has been awarded compensation for the injuries she suffered as a result. The woman was at a Christmas party, with colleagues from work, when the accident happened. She and a friend had been dancing and...
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A woman who paid more than 90 per cent of the cost of a £3 million property purchased for her daughter, in whose name the title is held, has failed in her attempt to have the ownership of the property changed to reflect her contribution. It would seem...
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The High Court has upheld a challenge by the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) to various terms found in some gym membership contracts – most notably lengthy minimum membership periods – ruling that such terms are unfair and therefore unenforceable....
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A woman whose hearing was damaged as a result of exposure to excessive levels of noise at work has won just over £1,200 in compensation from one of her former employers. This comes on top of an earlier settlement of £2,700 from a different...
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The Supreme Court recently handed down its judgment in the case of Gaines-Cooper v Revenue and Customs . In what will be a suprising decision to many, the Court has ruled in favour of HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC), who argued that businessman Robert...
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The family of a former shipyard worker who was exposed to asbestos in more than one job has won compensation from three of his former employers. William Galloway began working as a lagger when he was 16 years old, and was exposed to asbestos during that...
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The combination of a deathbed marriage, a millionaire and a new will was always likely to end in a court battle, and so it proved recently when a family challenged their late father’s will, which left everything to his new wife, who had been his...
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A textile factory employee who suffered a serious wrist injury when he slipped at work has won £40,000 in an out-of-court settlement. The man, who is in his 60s, slipped on fluid that had leaked from a textile printing machine. He fell backwards and...
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The Law Society is urging the nearly 70 per cent of the adult population who have not yet made a will to do so. There are many reasons why you should make a will. It is a mistake to think that it is only necessary if you have a substantial estate. Estate...
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A retired roofer has won compensation for the injuries he suffered when a gas canister ignited, setting fire to him and forcing him to jump from a 12-foot roof. Victor Barrell, 65, was using a roofing torch, to which the gas canister was attached, to repair...
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Noisy neighbours can be the bane of one’s existence, so it is no real surprise that a lesbian couple finally lost patience with their adjoining next-door neighbours after they had workmen carrying out extensive building work on their property for a...
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A woman who is disabled as a result of injuries she sustained when she was knocked down by a taxi when she was 14 years old has been awarded £3 million in compensation. Vicki Hart, now 22, was hit by the taxi while crossing the road in Guisborough,...
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Just four months after relaunching Index-linked Savings Certificates, the Government-backed savings institution National Savings & Investments (NS&I) has withdrawn its Savings Certificates from sale. The move was necessary in order to ensure that it...
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As part of the Government’s bid to tackle the growth of a ‘compensation culture’, the Ministry of Justice has announced that the payment of referral fees in personal injury cases is to be banned. At present, referral fees are commonly paid...
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A school worker who fell from a toilet she was standing on in order to open a window has been awarded £15,900 in damages . Marie Wallace, 64, was a clerical assistant at Kirkriggs School in Glasgow. The accident happened when she attempted to open...
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Among the requirements for a will to be valid are that it must not be witnessed by a beneficiary and it must be signed at the bottom by the testator (the person making it) or, if they are unable to sign it, under their direction. You would therefore be...
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A man who tripped on a raised paving stone in the pedestrian area of a high street has won £5,000 in compensation for his injuries. The area was paved with small granite blocks, one of which was standing proud of the others. The man tripped over it...
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A recent divorce case has confirmed the general position that when wealth is inherited, it is not normally subject to the ‘equal shares’ rule that applies to assets built up during a marriage. The case involved a couple who married in the UK...
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A further case involving injury to a worker as a result of the use of a chemical cleaning product, without adequate health and safety measures having been taken, has seen a caretaker from Walsall receive a £3,000 compensation settlement from his...
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If you move abroad to work, you pay your tax where you now live and that is the end of the matter. Or is it? Regrettably not. The UK tax system is a ‘world tax’ system, which seeks to tax the worldwide income of its residents. In order to avoid...
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A young girl who was left severely brain damaged after complications during her birth has been awarded a seven-figure sum in compensation. Ella Franklin, now 11, was starved of oxygen when problems arose during her mother’s labour. As a result, she is...
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Before you purchase a property, it is wise to make sure you are aware of the implications of any permitted uses of the land surrounding it. A recent case, in which the courts declined to prevent a landowner from carrying out activities which, although they...
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According to a recent poll, more than one in eight wills is ‘self-written’ and one in 10 of those people who have made a will fails to tell anyone where it is. Since nearly 4 out of every 10 adults have not made a will in the first place, the...
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Damage by animals is not common, despite the lurid headlines one sees in the popular press. However, if your animal does cause damage or injury to someone else, what is the extent of your liability? As well as a remedy in tort (the general law of damages),...
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A compensation settlement of £212,500 has been awarded to the widow of a former joiner who died as a result of being exposed to asbestos at work. The man had worked as a joiner for a building firm from 1958 to 1968. He and his wife later moved to...
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A recent case shows how unwilling the court will be to change an adoption order once it has been made. The case concerned a child who was removed from his mother’s care because she was unable to look after him due to drug dependency. This was...
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Slipping or tripping is the single most common cause of major injury in UK workplaces. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) reports that more than 10,000 workers suffered serious injury as a result of a slip or trip in the year 2009/2010. This figure...
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Anyone who has substantial assets in the United States, is a US citizen, or expects to inherit assets situated in the USA or which are the property of US citizens, should take note of recent changes to the US Estate Tax. The legislation, in the form of the...
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A woman who was injured when the car being driven by her husband was involved in an accident has won £34,000 in compensation from his insurers. The 78-year-old woman was being driven home from her son-in-law’s 50th birthday party by her husband....
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A recent case illustrates the importance for cohabiting couples of giving careful consideration to property ownership and inheritance issues. Ms Cattle had a relationship with her partner, Mr Evans, for many years and when he died she made a claim against...
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According to a new report from the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) – Tax by Design – the current tax system is "inefficient, overly complex and frequently unfair" . It calls for some radical changes to taxation policy, warning...
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A former weaver who was exposed to excessive levels of noise at work has been awarded compensation after suffering damage to his hearing. Mr McKinley had been employed as a weaver at a textiles firm in Milnrow, Lancashire, from 1969 to 1970, and had also...
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With all the recent publicity surrounding the proposed changes to the ‘no win, no fee’ regime, another set of proposals, which may well be of greater importance to many people, has slipped under the radar of the popular press. A new...
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A recent case illustrates that, when mistakes occur, it may not always be possible to put them right. A buyer and seller exchanged contracts on a flat, which was being sold by way of a long lease. This seems straightforward enough, but when the plans were...
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A woman from Southend who fell down an open manhole while holidaying in Turkey has won a six-figure sum in compensation for her injuries. Michelle Dragon, 49, was staying with friends at the Club Sarba Hotel in Marmaris, Turkey, when the accident happened....
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A divorced man has won the right to retain £1 million of his pre-marital assets before a 50/50 division of the remainder of the couple’s joint assets is made. The assets were valued at around £9.5 million, after provision had been made...
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A woman who suffered life-changing injuries after doctors were slow to diagnose her childhood meningitis has been awarded a compensation settlement worth £4.3 million. Natalie Tuthill, now 21, was admitted to Hull Royal Infirmary with a serious...
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If a person's estate does not fully utilise the nil-rate band for Inheritance Tax (IHT) purposes, the unused proportion of the nil-rate band can be used on the death of that person’s spouse or civil partner. This is termed the ‘transferable...
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A mother has won a seven-figure sum in compensation after she was injured in a road accident that left her with life-changing injuries. The 48-year-old woman had driven out to get some milk when her car was hit head-on by the vehicle of a man who had...
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A shopper who tripped over a pothole in the pavement has won £3,100 in compensation. Terence Wakefield, 78, was walking through a local market in June last year when he tripped over the pothole. He reached out with his hands to try to break his fall...
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It may be tempting (but is probably just tempting fate) to put a ‘qualification’ clause in a will whereby a person inherits only if they do something or refrain from doing something. Where it is something definite which can be unequivocally...
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A former BBC Radio Leeds DJ has won compensation for injuries he sustained during a charity stunt. Alex Belfield, 31, was doing a live broadcast in support of Children in Need when he was unexpectedly tackled by two Bradford Bulls rugby league players. He...
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A ‘McKenzie Friend’, named after the case which established the legal principles in 1970, is a person who assists another person in legal proceedings in open court when the person who is party to the proceedings requires support – for...
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The Court of Appeal has overturned the decision of a lower court to allow a father, against whom allegations of violence towards the mother of his child had been made, to vary the terms of contact arrangements made earlier so that he could continue to see...
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A London Underground cleaner who developed a severe skin condition after being exposed to a cleaning chemical has received £14,900 in compensation. The man had worked as a cleaner for more than 20 years. In June 2007, when he was responsible for...
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The general principle that ‘the loser pays the costs of the winner’ does not apply to disputes brought before the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal (LVT). The maximum amount the LVT can require the loser to pay is £500, and only then in...
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A joiner who is now terminally ill after being exposed to asbestos at work has won compensation of more than £350,000 from his former employer. Stephen Adkin, 54, worked for Nova Retail Display Ltd. between 1996 and 2010. During the late 1990s he was...
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When a beneficiary loses out because the terms of the will of a wealthy person are changed shortly before that person’s death, a dispute is always likely. When a Scottish woman with an estate valued at £4 million died shortly after changing her...
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A man who tripped and suffered a severe knee injury at work has won £40,000 in damages. The unnamed man suffered the accident while working for a motor manufacturer. He was walking across an area of the factory floor which had been covered with a...
