Recommended by the Legal 500 (2010), where he is described as 'calm’, ‘compassionate’, ‘focused’ and a ‘real pleasure to work with', Simon's principle area of practice is maximum severity personal injury claims and brain damage cases. He has detailed knowledge and experience of medical claims across the whole spectrum of clinical practice; and has represented a range of defendants, including the MOD, in a variety of cases involving Army and RAF personnel.
In clinical negligence, Simon specialises in claims involving injury at birth, cerebral palsy, failure to diagnose, failure to inform, and a variety of procedures including laparotomy and laparoscopy. He appears on behalf of medical and other professionals in disciplinary proceedings. He is also instructed in product liabilty cases which concern medical products.
Simon undertakes a range of personal injury work that includes industrial accidents, chemical injuries, RSI and "stress at work" cases. He is highly regarded for his expertise in military discipline matters such as service bullying and discrimination cases.
Simon lectures on medico-legal topics, including the use of medical experts in clinical negligence cases and the application of multipliers.
Key cases
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Mark Reeves. Court of Protection. No. 99328848. Judgment of Senior Judge Lush. 05.01.2010
There is no general requirement on a Deputy to make an application to the Court of Protection seeking authority to act, prior to applying for funding from a local authority.
The facts are that in 1967 Mark Reeves (MR) sustained a traumatic brain injury in a road traffic accident. In 2003 HHJ Oliver-Jones QC made a lump sum award of £2.5M in his favour. That award included a sum in relation to care costs at the residential Transitional Rehabilitation Unit (TRU) calculated for the anticipated life of MR, by reference to the purchase of an annuity, but not allowing for the costs of inflation. Since 1994 MR had been receiving 24 hour care at TRU.
In 2006 MR's Deputy, Eric Morris, applied to the local authority for TRU, St Helen's Council, for a contribution towards funding for MR's care. In 2009 the question of 'double recovery' was considered by the Court of Appeal in Peters v East Midlands Strategic Health Authority & Others [2009] EWCA Civ 145, P.I.Q.R. Q1. In that case the Deputy had been prepared to give the court an undertaking that she would make an application to the Court of Protection seeking authority to act, prior to applying for funding from the relevant local authority. In 2009 St Helen's Council replied to Mr Morris, citing Peters, and stating that it required him to make a similar application to the Court of Protection before it would consider his application.
HELD:
(a) A Deputy in the position of Mr Morris has a duty to act in the best interest of the protected party, and that included applying for all state benefits to which the protected party may be entitled;
(b) The undertaking given by the Deputy in Peters was specific to that case, and there was no general duty on the Deputy to apply for permission as suggested by the local authority in this case:
(c) There is no obligation on the Court of Protection to adjudicate as between Claimant and Defendant; or between Claimant and the local authority on the issue of double recovery;
(d) In future, the Court of Protection is not the appropriate forum to adjudicate on matters of this kind. The Office of the Public Guardian now supervises Deputies;
(e) The appropriate procedure in future is for the Deputy to apply to the local authority, and if he/she is dissatisfied with the response an application for judicial review should be considered.
For the full judgment please click here. -
GB v Barnsley Hospital NHS Foundation Trust (2009): Sex: Female, Age at injury: 40, Age at trial: 44
The claimant, a 44-year-old woman, received £80,000 after a hospital failed to diagnose her breast cancer when she was examined at a breast clinic in November 2005. Approximately 10 months later, her condition was diagnosed and she subsequently underwent additional treatment including a mastectomy, chemotherapy and radiotherapy.
PSLA Damages Figure: £80000.0
Out of Court Settlement 2009/09/15 00:00:00
LTLPI 7/1/2010Document No.: Quantum Reports - AM0201465 http://www.lawtel.com/UK/Document.aspx?ID=AM0201465&HL=Y&BK=Y&ResultID=29585253
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KC v University Hospitals Coventry & Warwickshire NHS Trust (2009):
The claimant, a 31-year-old man, received a £340,000 lump sum payment and periodical payments of £30,000 per annum, for the duration of his life, following the failure by the hospital to perform an emergency operation to revise a ventricular peritoneal shunt in the period between January and March 1998, and the consequent damage to the claimant of irreversible bilateral blindness. Lawtel ref: http://www.lawtel.com/Content/Document.aspx?ID=AM0201447 - N v Hertfordshire Police Authority (2009): The claimant, a 39-year-old woman, received £550,000 for the elbow and arm injuries sustained when she fell on ice in a car park in November 2005. She developed complex regional pain syndrome and became depressed and suicidal. Lawtel ref: http://www.lawtel.com/UK/Document.aspx?ID=AM0201424&HL=Y&BK=Y&ResultID=29043611
- Owens v Velindre NHS Trust [2007] LTPI 8/11/2007: Out of court settlement. £300,00 following the incorrect reporting of a smear test.
- Goldhawk v Blue Diamond (2007): Patient Approval. £1,000,000 award for a window cleaner who fell sustaining severe injuries.
- Westcott v Royal Berkshire and Battle Hospitals NHS Trust (2005): failure to diagnose herpes simplex encephalitis.
- E S (by her mother & litigation friend DS) v Chesterfield & North Derbyshire Royal Hospital NHS Trust (2003) EWCA Civ 1284; (2004) Lloyd's Rep Med 90: The leading case on the instruction of multiple experts.
- Royal Bank of Scotland Plc v Etridge (no.2): Barclays Bank Plc v Harris: national Westminster Bank Plc v Gill: Barclays Bank Plc v Coleman: UCB Home Loans Corporation Ltd v Moore: Kenyon-Brown v Desmond Bankes & Co [2001] UKHL 44 (2002) 2 AC, 773: the leading House of Lords case on the rights of a wife against the bank in circumstances where her husband had obtained her signature to the mortgage by duress and misrepresentation.
Contact Simon Wheatley
Phone: +44 (0) 20 7242 3555
Fax: +44 (0) 20 7242 2511
Email: clerks@7br.co.uk