Despite widespread use of case management systems and conduct rules requiring better risk management in law firms, many professional negligence claims are still caused by basic errors such as missing time limits in personal injury claims. Our specialist team has also seen a notable increase in under-settlement claims. This article highlights some recent developments and looks at under-settlement claims in more detail.
As lawyers practising in this area know, events occurring after the notional trial date may be taken into account in some circumstances (Charles v Hugh James Jones and Jenkins [2000]). The Court of Appeal has now ruled on the question of what should be done when, after the notional trial date, some entirely new event supervenes that could not have been known about at the date of the original trial (Hibbert Pownall & Newton v Whitehead and McLeish).
