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The bottom line

22 March 2013 / Jennifer James
Issue: 7553 / Categories: Blogs
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Jennifer James fails to find justice at the check-out queue

The Insider has watched the compensation culture burgeon over the years since I was admitted to practise law in 1992. The introduction of conditional fee agreements saw massive increases in slip and trip and whiplash injury claims, the latter allegedly pushing insurance premiums for all drivers up by some £90 each per annum.

You would, therefore, think that it would be a piece of cake to sue a large corporation in tort, but I can tell you from personal experience that this is not necessarily correct.

A wake-up call

A few months ago, I was in my local (unidentifiable from anything in this article) superstore, packing my trolley, when I felt and heard a forceful whack across my right gluteus maximus; I had been smacked, hard, on the backside. My initial reaction was to look round—I thought perhaps it was someone I knew although I had not seen anyone I knew in there and would not have been impressed by such a greeting anyway.

It

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MOVERS & SHAKERS

Hugh James—Phil Edwards

Hugh James—Phil Edwards

Serious injury teambolstered by high-profile partner hire

Freeths—Melanie Stancliffe

Freeths—Melanie Stancliffe

Firm strengthens employment team with partner hire

DAC Beachcroft—Tim Barr

DAC Beachcroft—Tim Barr

Lawyers’ liability practice strengthened with partner appointment in London

NEWS
Tech companies will be legally required to prevent material that encourages or assists serious self-harm appearing on their platforms, under Online Safety Act 2023 regulations due to come into force in the autumn
Commercial leasehold, the defence of insanity and ‘consent’ in the criminal law are among the next tranche of projects for the Law Commission
The Bar has a culture of ‘impunity’ and ‘collusive bystanding’ in which making a complaint is deemed career-ending due to a ‘cohort of untouchables’ at the top, Baroness Harriet Harman KC has found
Lawyers have broadly welcomed plans to electronically tag up to 22,000 more offenders, scrap most prison terms below a year and make prisoners ‘earn’ early release
The ex-wife of a Russian billionaire has won her bid to bring her financial relief claim in London, in a unanimous Court of Appeal decision
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