Tim’s practice focuses on personal injury and professional negligence claims, advising and litigating on behalf of individuals, companies, defence organisations, insurers and group actions participants. His clinical negligence and healthcare practice focuses on maximum severity injury claims, including birth related injuries and associated severe brain injury cases. He has an extensive practice in severe traumatic injury and fatal accident cases and undertakes serious personal injury work from county court to appellate level, on behalf of claimants and defendants. He also has a specialist interest in sports law, accepting instructions from sportsmen and major sporting bodies, and also in claims against the Ministry of Defence. In addition to which he has a wealth of experience of group actions, in particular, representing claimants’ who have suffered child abuse. He appears before disciplinary tribunals and at inquests.
Tim is described in Chambers and Partners 2010 as “hard working” and is praised for possessing “effective negotiation skills which help to bring about the prompt settlement of claims”. In 2011 the publication also noted that “Timothy Meakin acts for both claimants and defendants, and routinely works on prominent, high-value cases….” He is also recommended by the Legal 500.
Tim has contributed for many years to leading publications in his specialist field of practice. In addition to which he regularly provides seminars for solicitors and other organisations on selected topics, most recently on the Limitation Act, Fatal Accidents Act, Aspects of Sports Law and Practice and Procedure under CPR Parts 6 & 7. Tim has also sat, for the past five years, as a Part time Tribunal Judge for the Criminal Injuries Compensation Tribunal.
Clinical Negligence and Health Care
Tim’s experience in clinical negligence and healthcare work is extensive. His practice has developed to a point where he now routinely deals with maximum severity injury claims. This area of work includes:
- Neonatal and perinatal injuries (in particular cerebral palsy, paraplegia and quadriplegia)
- Neurology
- Obstetrics, gynaecology and fetal medicine
- General surgery
- Orthopaedics
- General Practice
- Oncology
Tim has a special interest in birth related injuries and associated severe brain injury cases. He regularly deals with high value and complex claims on both liability and quantum. He acts for both claimants and defendant organisations. The type of cases that he has been involved in can be seen in the section headed Recent Cases below.
Personal Injury
Severe Traumatic Injury
Tim has developed an extensive specialist practice in serious personal injury and fatal accident cases, from county court to appellate level, which he undertakes on behalf of both claimants and defendants. This area of his practice concentrates on serious trauma in the workplace, including asbestosis/mesothelioma claims and fatal accident claims. In addition he is regularly instructed on catastrophic traumatic injuries to the brain and spine from industrial accidents, military accidents (to service personnel), and road traffic accidents.
Claims against the Ministry of Defence
Tim has a long established specialist practice in clinical negligence and personal injury actions against the Ministry of Defence in relation to death or serious injury suffered by members of the armed forces. He has conducted many high value claims, regularly at trial, for the loss of service career and pension of members of the armed forces (including Special Forces) resulting from service related injuries incurred in the UK and around the world, including Iraq and Afghanistan. Recently, he has successfully represented a substantial group of soldiers who negligently suffered freezing and non-freezing cold weather injuries in the course of their service with the Ministry of Defence. He is a member of the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers’ Military Injury Special Interest Group. Tim recently represented a RAF Serviceman at trial whose career was compromised by the negligence of the MOD in their failure to prevent harassment and bullying of the claimant. He secured a judgment of £223,000 [Lyon v Ministry of Defence].
Sports Law
Tim’s practice covers various aspects of sports law, including specialist personal injury and negligence work. In particular he accepts instructions from sportsmen and major sporting bodies, providing both advice and representation in courts and tribunals. For example, he has successfully represented a UK Athletics Coach in a professional negligence action brought by an international athlete against his coach. [Davenport v Farrow [2010] EWHC 550 Owen J]. In addition, Tim successfully defended an action at trial brought against the British Cycling Federation, which alleged negligence in the management and implementation of a UK Road Race. [Brown v (1) Brent (2) British Cycling Federation Ltd [2011] HHJ Atkins. Tim also writes on issues relating to Sports Law and he is a member of the British Association of Sport and the Law (BASL).
Group Actions
Tim has conducted a number of substantial group actions on behalf of claimants who claim personal injury relating to the professional negligence of local authority care homes dating from 1950s to present time. The last claim he conducted of this nature settled for £3m. He is currently acting on behalf of 120 claimants in a similar group actions claim for damages for historic abuse in care homes in the East of England.
Judicial Review and Inquiries
Tim appears before disciplinary tribunals and at inquests and other enquiry. He deals with inquests relating to healthcare issues (including ECHR Article 2 inquests) as well as deaths in custody and in prison. In addition, as a specialist personal injury lawyer, Tim has a wide-ranging interest on health and safety law issues arising from deaths in the workplace and of military personnel. He represents the interests of families, individual clinicians and statutory healthcare providers, as well as other interested parties and organisations. Tim has also represented doctors before various committees of the General Medical Council on a range of disciplinary issues.
Free Representation Unit and Bar Pro-Bono Unit
Tim has a long standing commitment to representing claimants with meritorious cases, but no funding, on a pro-bono basis. He has done so in courts and tribunals over the last 20 years and is always happy for solicitors to discuss such cases either with himself or his clerks.
Recent Cases
- E v (1) Thompson (2) Scatchard (3) Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust [2011] Nelson J: settlement at £845,000 with periodical payments at £160,000 for life – delay in diagnosis of herpes simplex encephalitis leading to serious brain injury.
- Lyon v Ministry of Defence [2011] Mr Rec. Potts: judgment for £223,000 for psychiatric injury as a result of bullying and harassment in the work place.
- Brown v (1) Brent (2) British Cycling Federation Ltd [2011] LTL 17.8.11 HHJ Atkins: successfully defend a personal injury action brought against the British Cycling Federation.
- Buxton v Abertawe Bro Morgannwg University Local Health Board [2010] EWHC 1187: clinical negligence claim concerning ophthalmic injury.
- Davenport v Farrow [2010] EWHC 550: successfully defended, on behalf of UK Athletics, a professional negligence claim relating to an international athlete.
- Merrigan v Northampton General Hospital NHS Trust: settlement at £4m – cerebral palsy case.
- Atkins v South Warwickshire Hospitals NHS Trust: settlement at £1.25m – paraplegia case.
- Andrews v University of Leicester Hospitals NHS Trust: settlement at £1.3m – negligent administration of antibiotics.
- Leveridge v Southend Hospital NHS Trust: settlement at £900,000 – failure to diagnose brain haemorrhage.
- Cross v Ministry of Defence: settlement at £750,000 – freezing injury to Army Office causing loss of career.
- Lewis v Ministry of Defence: settlement at£450,000 – traumatic leg injury following injury on military exercise.
Publications
- Personal Injury Quantum Report [Sweet & Maxwell] Sub-editor, providing head notes on major cases in clinical negligence and personal injury law.
- Butterworths Personal Injury Litigation Service [Butterworths: LexisNexis] Sub-editor on the section on “Injuries of the Utmost Severity”. This section comprehensively covers all aspects of maximum severity injury, including principle, practice and quantum.
- Clinical Negligence [APIL]: Co-author of chapter on Limitation.
- Work Related Injury and Illness Litigation [EMIS Publishing]: Co-author with Dr P Ellis. This publication covers all aspects of workplace injury and this book won the Minty Prize of the Medical-Legal Society for the best Medico Legal Publication in 2003-4.
- Butterworths Law of Limitation [Butterworths: LexiNexis]: Contributor on the law relating to s.14 and s.33 of the Limitation Act 1980.
Professional Memberships
- The Professional Negligence Bar Association
- The Personal Injury Bar Association
- The Association of Personal Injury Lawyers
- British Association for Sport and the Law
Contact Tim Meakin
Phone: +44 (0) 20 7242 3555
Fax: +44 (0) 20 7242 2511
Email: clerks@7br.co.uk