In a shock decision last week, the High Court determined that an employer could be held vicariously liable for criminal acts committed by an independent contractor.

There has been great interest, in the press and in parliament, about the increasing numbers of suicide and self-harm within the prison sector. Recent studies have included:

Every year thousands of babies are safely delivered by NHS staff. However, claims for compensation may arise as a result of problems during labour and delivery, which can result in the most severe forms of birth injury (brain injury/cerebral palsy).

The guidance was published by NHS England in February 2017 and came into effect from the 1 June 2017; it applies to the following NHS organisations:

A force majeure clause typically excuses one or both parties from performance of a contract in some way following the occurrence of certain events. Its underlying principle is that on the occurrence of certain events which are outside a party's control (for example a prison lockdown), the party is excused from, or entitled to suspend performance of all or parts of its obligations and so will not be liable for its failure to perform the relevant obligations. 

Safety in prisons has come under increased scrutiny in the wake of a number of recent incidents, raising the very real threat of corporate manslaughter prosecutions in fatality cases.

NHS England has published new guidelines on managing conflicts of interest applicable to clinical commissioning groups (CCGs), NHS trusts, NHS foundation trusts and NHS England. The guidance comes into force on 1 June 2017 and will be mandated through:

An NHS trust receives a letter of claim setting out allegations of negligence in relation to care provided. An internal investigation is carried out and the reviewing clinician is critical of the treatment. The letter of response admits negligence. This seems the most pragmatic course of action: the claimant’s solicitors can stop incurring the costs of investigating liability, it will lead to earlier resolution and of course, the trust has to comply with its duty of candour. In light of the admissions made, the claimant is paid interim payments totalling £50,000, which he spends. Over a year later court proceedings are issued and an independent expert is instructed to consider the claimant’s prognosis to help value the claim. He advises that in his view, there was no negligence and the outcome for the claimant would have been the same in any event. The trust finds itself with a full causation defence, but liability has already been conceded on the basis of an internal investigation…

The relevance of Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) records is not limited to claims which show the claimant has received benefits as a result of a clinical negligence injury, or injury at work, but should also be considered even where a ‘nil’ Compensation Recovery Unit CRU certificate is received from the DWP. This is why:

Welds -v- Yorkshire Ambulance Service NHS Trust (1) & Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (2) [2016] 3325 (QB)

Clive Bellman -v- Northampton Recruitment Ltd [2016] EWHC 3104(QB)