Richard Baker KC and Sarah Edwards succeed in rare leapfrog appeal to the Supreme Court

Richard Baker KC and Sarah Edwards succeed in rare leapfrog appeal to the Supreme Court.

The Supreme Court has today handed down its judgment in the case of CCC v. Sheffield Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust overturning the case of Croke v. Wiseman and correcting a historical injustice that prohibited child claimant’s from recovering damages for loss of earnings in the ‘lost years’. Richard and Sarah represented the Claimant at trial in 2023 and secured permission to appeal to the Supreme Court by way of a leapfrog appeal bypassing the Court of Appeal, representing the Claimant (Appellant) in the hearing before the Supreme Court in February 2025.

The claim was brought by a young girl who sustained a catastrophic brain injury at birth, one of the effects of which was to reduce her life-expectancy to age 29. Although adult and adolescent claimants were permitted to recover damages representing their loss of earnings during the period in which their life-expectancy was reduced by the defendant’s negligence the 1981 landmark decision by the Court of Appeal in Croke v. Wiseman excluded claims for lost years by those who suffered serious injury at birth or in childhood. This controversial decision effectively prevented claimants with serious birth injuries from recovering the same quantum of damages as adolescent and had been criticised but not overturned in a number of subsequent decisions. Richard and Sarah argued that the decision in Croke v Wiseman was inconsistent with earlier decision of the House of Lords on the issue of lost years and with the general principles underpinning claims for damages for personal injuries and therefore wrongly decided. The Supreme Court by a majority of 4:1 agreed with the appellant’s arguments and overturned the decision of Croke v. Wiseman, remitting the claim back to the High Court for the assessment of damages.

The decision represents the correction of a historical injustice that has disadvantaged child claimants for over 40 years and represents a welcome reaffirmation of the principles that govern the assessment of damages for personal injuries. It aligns claims brought by severely injured and vulnerable child claimants with those brought by adults.

Richard Baker KC and Sarah Edwards were instructed by James Drydale of Taylor Emmett Solicitors, Sheffield.

You can read the full judgment here.

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